Desert Heat
by forensicsfan
Summary: NS - While looking for evidence in the desert two of our favorite CSI discover something else.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own them, didn't create them, don't profit from them, etc.  
  
Pairing: Nick and Sara  
  
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"Can you explain to me again what the hell we're doing this for?" Sara was hot. She and Nick had been hiking through this canyon for what she determined was far too long.  
  
Nick chuckled. He was hot too, and his shirt was soaked with sweat. "According to the computer simulation data, it's fairly likely that we'll find some evidence of a chute or glider up on that ridge, if that's in fact what happened."  
  
"And, why are we doing this?" Sara blew a piece of stray hair that had worked it's way out of her pony tail out of her face.  
  
"We volunteered. I seem to recall you saying that you were looking forward to getting back to nature." Nick glanced back at her and grinned.  
  
"That was before I found out that it was supposed to be 90 degrees in November." Sara shifted her daypack. Her shirt was drenched with sweat and clung to her body.  
  
The case had started simply enough. DB in the desert. As they began investigating, none of the pieces seemed to fit together. The vic was killed with a single gun shot wound, but seemed to have been dumped. However, there were no tracks of any kind anywhere, so they weren't sure how he got there. Not until they found a piece of a harness attached to the vic. Now the theory was that he was either gliding or parachuting, but until they located one or the other, they were just working on theories, and that wasn't going to hold up in court.  
  
"Want to take a break?" Nick glanced back at Sara quizzically. He took in her appearance and tried to restrain a smile. She was just as sweaty as he was and her shirt clung to her in all the right places, which at the moment was really in all the wrong places. Nick certainly did not need to feel any hotter than he already was as a result of the heat.  
  
She nodded and pulled out her bottle of water. As she took a sip she wrinkled her nose. "Yuck, it's warm."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow. "At least it's wet." He always seemed to make the best of a situation.  
  
She smirked at him as she took another sip and then reached up and wiped the sweat off her brow with her forearm. Her hair fell back into her face.  
  
Nick pulled a couple of Power Bars out of his pack and stepped over toward her. He offered one to her and as she took it, he reached over and tucked the stray lock of hair behind her ear. A smile was etched on his face.  
  
Sara felt a little unsettled by Nick's gesture and concentrated on eating the Power Bar. The last thing she needed to do was to read anything into Nick's friendly gesture. The fact that it was hot and his sweaty shirt clung to every nuance of his muscular body didn't help. She wondered if he even had an ounce of fat on his body, well, maybe in his butt, everyone had at least a little fat in their butt. Sara glanced up as she finished the Power Bar.  
  
Nick's ever present smile beckoned. "Ready to go?"  
  
She nodded and they continued hiking at a steady pace, an easy silence between them. Sara had to avert her gaze from Nick's backside. She chided herself for two reasons; she had to think about Nick's butt in the first place and then she had to place herself behind him while they hiked where she had an incredibly good view of it, and with not much else in the way of scenery, she found herself staring.  
  
The sun was sitting high in the sky as they crested the ridge. The view from the top was spectacular. They eased their packs off and sat down to rest for a few moments.  
  
Nick's shirt was completely saturated with sweat. In one swift move, he pulled it off over his head and attached it to the back of his pack so it would have a chance to dry off in the hot desert sun.  
  
Sara glanced over at Nick and tried not to stare at his now exposed chest. "Hey, think we'll find anything up here?"  
  
He glanced back at her smiling. "If there's anything to find up here, you and I will find it."  
  
She chuckled. "That's because we're damn fine CSIs." Sara decided that Nick had the right idea and pulled her shirt off over her head, revealing her sports bra that she often worked out in, and hung her T-shirt on the back of her pack.  
  
Nick laughed. "Yeah, maybe next year they'll do a calendar." There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye, and he tried not to stare at the curves of Sara's body which was glistening with sweat in the sun.  
  
It took her a minute to figure out what he was talking about and then she looked at him with her mouth slightly agape and blushed. She quickly recovered and raised an amused eyebrow at him. "Nice ego there, Stokes."  
  
Nick laughed. "You know it's true. You're beautiful. You've got Greg, Archie, and David eating out of your hand."  
  
"I meant you, Nick." She smirked at him and glanced away.  
  
His laughter made her turn her eyes back toward him. "I always knew you wanted me." He dodged as she tried to slug him. He grinned at her. "Hey, we should get started."  
  
She stood up and pulled her pack back on. Glancing down at him, she smirked. "What's taking you so long, Stokes?"  
  
"Just taking in the scenery." His eyes didn't leave her as he stood up.  
  
That was not lost on Sara, as she realized that he'd been looking at her. She glanced away, trying to hide the flush of color that infused her cheeks.  
  
They began searching the ridge based on the computer calculations and the GPS unit they had with them. After several hours, they stopped to take a break.  
  
"Sara, I think we should head back before it gets dark." Nick suggested. The sun was sitting very low in the sky and they still hadn't found anything.  
  
Sara shook her head. "No, I think we need to keep looking, it's already going to be well past dark by the time we can hike out of here anyway, what's a couple more hours?"  
  
Nick rested his hands on his hips and looked at the ground for a minute. He glanced up at her. "Sara, we've been all over this ridge and we haven't found anything. I don't think we're going to. We should head back."  
  
Sara tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms in front of her body. "Nick, we took four hours to hike up to this damn ridge, and I sure as hell don't want to do it again, so if you don't mind, I'd like to look a little longer. If you want to head back, be my guest."  
  
Nick shook his head slightly and muttered under his breath. "Stubborn."  
  
Sara's eyebrows shot up. "What was that?"  
  
Nick met her gaze. "I said you're stubborn as hell."  
  
Sara wrinkled her brow. "No I'm not."  
  
Nick laughed. "Oh, yes you are. I know you well enough to know that you would stay up here by yourself and I'm not going to be the one to explain to Grissom why I left you here. Besides, it's not safe for you to be out here alone."  
  
Nick's last comment didn't set too well with Sara. "Oh, so now you have to be my protector." She huffed at him and shrugged her pack off, pulling her now dry T-shirt back on.  
  
"You said it, I didn't." Nick had an amused smile on his lips, he lowered his pack to the ground, and put his T-shirt back on as well.  
  
Sara grunted in disgust at him.  
  
Nick started to laugh.  
  
Sara glared at him.  
  
Nick tried to stifle his laughter, but was having a difficult time doing so.  
  
"Would you knock it off?" Sara suddenly felt self conscious.  
  
"If you could just see yourself, Sidle, you look cute when you're mad." Nick finally bit his lip to stop laughing.  
  
Sara tried to blow her hair out of her face again. When she had pulled her T-shirt over her head, more hair had come lose from her ponytail.  
  
Nick walked over and stood behind her. "Let me help you with that." Before she could protest, he had pulled the pony tail holder out of her hair and was trying to regather her hair to put it back in.  
  
She reached behind her head to still his hands and turned around, instantly regretting it as Nick's arms ended up resting on her shoulders, one of her hands still held one of his and the entire length of her forearm rested against his arm. Sara seemed to stop breathing as she locked eyes with Nick. Seeing him without his shirt on for the last several hours had taken it's toll.  
  
Nick studied her for a moment. He had been having a hard time not staring at her for the last few hours as she'd had her midriff exposed. He dipped his head slightly and whispered. "You're beautiful, Sara." Then he softly brushed his lips against hers.  
  
Sara swallowed a whimper, her eyes fluttered shut, and she parted her lips, suddenly wanting to get lost in this kiss. Her tongue slid past Nick's as she allowed him to explore her mouth as thoroughly as she explored his. Somehow her arm snaked around his neck and his fingers tangled in her hair.  
  
They finally broke apart and stepped away from each other, chests heaving as they stared at each other, unsure of what to say.  
  
Then it started to rain.  
  
They broke out of their reverie and glanced up. The sky seemed to have opened up as a storm rolled over the ridge. Within seconds, they were both soaked to the skin. They grabbed their packs and made a mad dash toward an outcropping of rocks, hoping to find some shelter from the storm. As they neared it, they noticed an opening in the rocks. It wasn't a cave really, but provided enough shelter that they could get out of the rain.  
  
They set their packs down and Nick pulled out a flashlight and searched the area.  
  
"What are you doing?" Sara queried him as she tried to wring out the hem of her shirt which had finally dried out before it started to rain. Rivulets of water dripped out of her hair, causing it to cling to her face.  
  
"Making sure there aren't any scorpions or tarantulas in here. Grissom may like bugs, but I hate them." He smiled in spite of the fact that he was soaking wet. His shirt too had finally dried out before the downpour and he hadn't thought to bring another.  
  
Sara laughed. "Never would have thought hard body Nick Stokes would be afraid of bugs."  
  
He raised an amused eyebrow. "I didn't say I was afraid of them. I just don't like them and don't want to get bit or stung." He chuckled as he set the flashlight on the ground shining upward. "So, you like my body, huh?"  
  
Sara bit her lip and glanced away. "This is dangerous, Nick."  
  
He stepped a little closer to her. "Why, because I'm seriously attracted to you?" He took another step closer. "And we're stuck up here alone." He touched the side of her face with his hand, wiping the moisture away with his fingers, before cupping her cheek in his palm.  
  
In spite of her apprehension, she leaned her face into his palm and closed her eyes. "Nick." Her voice was barely a whisper.  
  
Nick caressed her cheek with his thumb. "I know we joke about it all the time, but I know you're attracted to me too, Sara. I really like you a lot."  
  
"Me too." Sara's eyes fluttered open and she looked into Nick's eyes in the dim light. In a single movement she stepped toward him and wrapped her arm around his neck, pressing her parted lips against his.  
  
Nick gripped her waist and pulled her firmly against him as he returned the kiss. She tasted like rain. He slid a hand up and cupped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her wet hair as his tongue danced with hers. They seemed to lose track of time.  
  
A shiver ran through Sara.  
  
Nick broke the kiss and pulled away slightly. "Cold?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
He stepped away and reached for his pack and began rummaging through it. He pulled out a couple of space blankets and tossed one to Sara. "Wrap it around yourself."  
  
She nodded and pulled it out of it's wrapper, pulling it around herself and sitting on the ground.  
  
Nick sat down next to her and they leaned against each other as they huddled under their small space blankets to get warm. They kept casting sideling glances at each other.  
  
Sara continued shivering.  
  
Nick glanced over at her again, concern was etched on his face. "Maybe you should take your wet shirt off."  
  
Sara chuckled, an embarrassed smile on her face. "So you can ogle me, Stokes?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "It's not like I haven't been doing it all day."  
  
"Yeah, me too." She confessed, grinning at him.  
  
Nick glanced at the ground and couldn't restrain the grin that spread across his face. "I knew you wanted me." He dodged expecting her to swat at him and looked up at her slightly surprised that she didn't.  
  
The look on her face was smug. "Maybe I do."  
  
Nick looked hopeful.  
  
"But this isn't really the time or the place to cross that bridge." She raised her eyebrows at him and smirked.  
  
Nick chuckled somewhat self consciously.  
  
Sara continued. "I mean I can see it now. One of those creepy crawlies you were checking for earlier comes out of the rocks and stings you on your ass, while I'm getting a serious rash on mine while we're having sex on the ground here. Heaven knows my ass is going to be chaffed enough from these wet clothes. Or when we don't get back to the lab on time, Grissom sends a search party out for us and someone finds CSIs Stokes and Sidle in the middle of desert getting it on. I'm sure that would look good in an official report."  
  
Nick chuckled. "It sounds like you've put quite a lot of thought into this, Sara."  
  
She blushed as she glanced away from him. "I'm just practical, Nick. Having rug burn on my ass once in life is plenty."  
  
Nick's eyebrow's shot up. "Sounds like there's a story in there somewhere."  
  
Sara grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"  
  
They were silent for a few minutes. Finally, Nick cleared his throat. "Where is the strangest place you've had sex?"  
  
Her eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "You heard me."  
  
"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I want to answer the question." Sara replied tugging the space blanket around her shoulders a little tighter.  
  
"You're the one who brought up sex." Nick teased.  
  
Sara tried to restrain her smile. "Ok." She turned toward him. "An airplane lavatory."  
  
"Oh, mile high club. Not really all that unusual and I actually already knew that. I was kind of hoping to hear how you got rug burn on your ass." Nick smiled mischievously.  
  
Sara turned red.  
  
"Oh, now this is a story I've got to hear." Nick chuckled.  
  
"I answered your question." Sara replied evasively.  
  
"Something tells me the rug burn story is a whole lot more interesting." Nick just wouldn't give up.  
  
Sara shook her head and blushed. "Fine." She turned toward him. "I went camping with some friends in college and it rained so hard the campground flooded. My boyfriend and I ended up in the back of his van, but he had one of those sea grass rugs on the floor. End of story." She looked clearly embarrassed.  
  
Nick chuckled. "Ok, where else have you had sex, Sidle?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, you're going to have to put out a little yourself, Stokes."  
  
Nick waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'm not the one who didn't want to get it on out here, remember."  
  
Sara blushed and swatted at him. "That is not what I meant and you know it."  
  
Nick laughed. "Ok, the strangest place I've had sex was on the back of a horse."  
  
Sara looked at him with a befuddle expression. "That sounds a little too kinky, Nick."  
  
He laughed and pulled his space blanket around him a little tighter. "Not really much different than doing it sitting on a couch, just a little more challenging."  
  
Sara shook her head. "Ok, can we change the subject and talk about something other than sex?"  
  
Nick grinned. "Sure. How long have you wanted me?" He dodged as she swatted at him. 


	2. After The Rain

The rain finally stopped falling and the clouds moved on as quickly as they had arrived, leaving a starlit sky over the desert. Nick and Sara still sat huddled next to each other under the cave-like indentation in the rocks. Their wet clothes clung to their bodies and they both shivered under the space blankets Nick had pulled out his pack. He glanced over at her. "Do you want to try and hike out? It's pretty dark, but at least the clouds are gone."  
  
She raised an eyebrow at him. "If we do, will you stop asking me questions about my sex life?"  
  
He chuckled. "Hey, I'm not the one who brought it up in the first place. You were the one who went into the nitty gritty details about you and I having sex right here and why the location would be a bad idea for your backside."  
  
Sara grunted as she stood up. "Let's hike." She had become a bit agitated as they had sat there. True, she was incredibly attracted to the soft spoken Texan; however, she wasn't really sure what she truly thought about workplace entanglements, especially after Grissom so firmly rebuffed her. Sara heard Nick stand up and follow her in the darkness. She hadn't taken more than twenty steps when she tripped on a rock and broke her fall with her hands. She let out a stream of curses.  
  
Nick's voice broke through darkness. "Sara?" He had his flashlight in hand and quickly made his way to her side as she stood up and tried to dust herself off.  
  
"What?" Her tone was sharp as she rubbed the palms of her hands gingerly together.  
  
Nick let out a measure breath. He could tell that she was pissed off. "Are you ok?" Concerned edged his words.  
  
"I'm fine, I just tripped." She crossed her arms in front of her body.  
  
Nick reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder.  
  
She stiffened and recoiled at his touch and a bit of anger flashed in her eyes.  
  
Nick raised a curious eyebrow. "Did I miss something in the last thirty seconds?"  
  
Sara closed her eyes and clenched her jaw for a moment before responding. "Can we just hike? I really don't need to spend the entire night up here so I can develop hypothermia and have to share body heat with you, ok."  
  
Nick tried to swallow the wry smile that threatened to break across his face. "Is that what this is about?"  
  
Sara looked at him defensively. "Nick, I just don't know if it's such a good idea for me to be attracted to you."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Oh, and you have control over that? I thought attraction was something that just happened."  
  
She huffed at him and turned around. "Would you just get up here with your damn flashlight so we can get out of here?"  
  
"Fine." Nick walked in front of Sara and shone his flashlight on the path and began hiking.  
  
Sara followed behind him and they hiked in silence for quite a while before either of them spoke.  
  
Nick's voice was tentative as he spoke to her over his shoulder. "Sara, what's going on?"  
  
"Nick, just leave it alone, you do not want to go there." Sara had an edginess to her voice.  
  
"Go where? I'm not really sure what happened back there. Do you mind filling me in?" Nick was frustrated, but he hoped it didn't show in his voice.  
  
Sara let out a deep breath. "Just drop it, ok?"  
  
Nick stopped in his tracks and turned around.  
  
Sara almost bumped into him before she realized that he'd stopped.  
  
Nick's large hands rested on his narrow hips as he leveled his gaze at her. "I don't want to."  
  
She stammered. "What?"  
  
Nick narrowed his gaze at her in the darkness. "I said I don't want to drop it. I want to know what the hell happened back there."  
  
"Nick." There was a warning tone in her voice.  
  
Nick heard it, but he ignored it. He for one wasn't intimidated by Sara Sidle. "Sara."  
  
She glared at him. "We kissed, ok. That's all. Happy?"  
  
Nick shook his head in disbelief. "Sara, that was not just a kiss, and did you conveniently forget the fact that you were the one who brought up the topic of having sex with me."  
  
Sara felt flustered. "Let's just hike, ok?" There was an edge to her voice that bordered on panic.  
  
Nick observed the change in her demeanor with concern. He had a hint of insight and he decided to press her. "Sara, what are you afraid of?"  
  
"What makes you say that?" Sara felt defensive and had a sudden urge to run.  
  
"You sound scared." He paused for a moment and studied her. "I'm not going to hurt you. What are you afraid of?" Nick's voice was gentle, but insistent.  
  
Sara blinked at him in the darkness, their faces illuminated slightly by the moon and stars, and a shiver ran through her even as she wrapped the space blanket around her body more tightly.  
  
Nick took a deep breath. "Sara, who hurt you?"  
  
Shock registered on Sara's face. "What makes you think someone hurt me?"  
  
He looked her straight in the eye. "Because I know what it feels like to be hurt by someone you're supposed to be able to trust."  
  
Sara looked at the ground. Her voice was a whisper and there was a pleading quality in her tone. "Let's just hike, Nick. Please."  
  
"Ok." Nick's voice was soft. He turned around and continued hiking. Sara fell in step behind him. Neither of them said a word for the next hour. They just hiked a steady pace down the ridge and through the canyon, their wet clothes making a thwacking sound each time they moved.  
  
As they stopped to rest for a moment, Nick reached into his pack and pulled out a couple of Power Bars. He offered one to Sara and she took it wordlessly. Nick could feel her eyes on him as she studied him.  
  
She let out a deep breath. "I don't get it."  
  
Nick looked over at her with a perplexed look on his face. "You don't get what?"  
  
"You." She just shook her head in bewilderment.  
  
Nick tilted his head to the side. "I'm not following you."  
  
"Who the hell are you, Nick?" Sara looked confused.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at her. "Excuse me?"  
  
"Who are you? Jock? Frat boy? Science nerd? What? I just don't know who you are." Sara sounded like she'd been thinking about this for a while.  
  
Nick studied her for a moment in the starlight. "Sara, you can't compartmentalize me. I'm not two dimensional."  
  
Sara stuttered, a little taken aback. "What?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "You can't compartmentalize me or label me. I've been a jock. I used to belong to a fraternity. I work as a CSI. That's not who I am, Sara. It's shaped who I've become, but it's not who I am." He regarded her for a moment and then a realization hit him. "That's how you see me, isn't it?"  
  
"What? No. I." Sara couldn't quite form a complete sentence.  
  
Nick stiffened for a moment and tried to measure his words, trying to keep the edge of anger out of his voice. "One of the first cases we worked on together, those frat boys who tried to cover up murdering a pledge. That's when this started. You looked at them, and you saw me. Other cases too. Whether the suspect is an athlete, belonged to a fraternity, or just dated a lot of women, you've used that to form a picture of who you think I am. You assume that I'm just like them."  
  
Sara didn't say a word.  
  
A picture was becoming crystal clear in his mind. "I'm not who you've made me out to be, Sara. I'm not those guys. I've never intentionally hurt anyone."  
  
Sara didn't know what to say.  
  
"Who hurt you, Sara?" Nick's voice was gentle and he placed his hands on her shoulders.  
  
She looked up at him to find him looking at her with a steady gentle gaze.  
  
"It was some popular athletic jerk who belonged to a fraternity, wasn't it? He hurt you, didn't he?" Nick continued trying to get through to her. "Being attracted to me makes you feel like you're betraying yourself for what this asshole did to you."  
  
Sara looked extremely uncomfortable. "What makes you say that?" Sara wasn't giving even a fraction of an inch.  
  
"I know the type, Sara." Nick shook his head regretfully as he thought of the guys he knew who used their popularity to use people. He let out a deep breath. He was already in so deep he decided to just keep going forward. "Were you sexually assaulted, Sara?"  
  
Sara winced and bit her lip, averting her gaze from Nick. Her arms instinctively tightened around her body. It was if a protective shield enveloped her.  
  
Nick could feel her stiffen as he stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her gently, but he didn't let go, and she didn't push him away.  
  
After a considerable amount of time, Sara finally spoke. She sounded incredibly vulnerable and scared. "How the hell did you figure that out?"  
  
Nick let out a deep breath. "Because when I was nine, I was sexually assaulted too."  
  
Sara had to fight the bile that threatened the back of her throat. She finally pushed Nick away and turned away to throw up. When she finished, she looked up to see him looking at her with concern. "How the hell could someone do that to you, Nick? You were just a kid, what the hell were they thinking?" Anger and hurt flashed in her eyes as she shared his pain.  
  
He placed his hand on her shoulder, tears threatened his eyes. "How could someone do that to you, Sara? You sure as hell didn't deserve it."  
  
"Did they ever get prosecuted?" Sara queried him with concern, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.  
  
Nick glanced down and shook his head. "No. I never told anyone." He looked up to see her eyes wide. "The girl was a last minute babysitter and she was killed in a car wreck the summer after it happened. The only other person I've ever told is Catherine."  
  
Sara's mouth formed into a silent "O".  
  
Nick looked at Sara with concern. "What about you? Did you ever file charges?"  
  
Sara glanced away and shook her head. "No. It started out as a date and ended up in the back of this guy's van. I was so ashamed I couldn't tell anyone, I didn't think anyone would believe that I didn't want to sleep with the guy all the girls on campus wanted to go out with, and by the time I realized that it wasn't my fault, the statute of limitations had run out." She looked up and met his gaze. "That's the real rug burn on my ass story."  
  
Nick suddenly felt sick and he swallowed hard as a tear slid down his cheek. He pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear. "I'm so sorry for giving you crap about your sex life, Sara." His voice wavered.  
  
She wrapped her arms around his waist. "It's ok, Nick, you didn't know." Her voice was thick with emotion.  
  
"I'm still sorry." He pulled away from her and tried to put a smile on his face as he blinked back tears. "Let's get out of here, ok?" He wiped a few stray tears from his face with the back of his hand.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." She responded, trying to collect herself after such a serious conversation.  
  
They hiked for a while longer lost in their own thoughts, and as they neared a turn in the canyon, Nick's flashlight illuminated something definitely not native to the desert landscape. Both CSIs stopped in their tracks. Nick flashed the light over it again. Hues of yellow, orange, and red ripstop nylon fluttered in the night time breeze. They made their way off the trail and stopped short of where the fabric fluttered around.  
  
"No apparent tracks. I'd say it either blew down here or traveled down in a wash when the rain came." Nick observed.  
  
Sara had pulled the digital camera out of her day pack. "Better at least take a couple of shots before we pack it up." After photographing the location that it was found and then recording the GPS coordinants, they put latex gloves on and rolled the fabric and placed it into an evidence bag they had brought along specifically for this purpose. At first glance the nylon fabric appeared to be a parachute.  
  
The rain had most likely washed away any prints or other biological evidence, but they wanted to make sure they didn't contaminate any evidence with their own fingerprints.  
  
They continued on toward the Denali, which was parked at the end of a dirt road as they carried the chute between them. They loaded it into the back of the SUV and tossed their packs in after it. As they headed back to the lab they turned the heat on full force in an attempt to dry out their wet clothes as the sun came up over the desert landscape. 


	3. Chaffing

An early morning news report came over the Denali's radio indicating that it would be another hot day in Vegas. As they neared the Las Vegas Crime Lab, Nick turned the heat off in the SUV. He and Sara's clothes were finally almost dried out. He made the last turn before reaching the lab.  
  
Sara glanced over at Nick nervously. "You're not going to tell anyone are you?"  
  
Nick studied her for a moment and tried to play things lightly, flashing her one of his ever present smiles. "That you propositioned me? No, your secret's safe with me."  
  
Sara chuckled and swatted at him. Her expression turned serious. "That's not what I meant, although it might not be such a bad idea to keep that a secret too."  
  
Nick glanced at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "No, Sara, I'm not about to share your personal hell with someone else. That's something only you have the right to share."  
  
"Thanks." She looked visibly relieved, glancing at her lap.  
  
"You can trust me, Sara." Nick's voice was soft and reassuring as he pulled the Denali into the parking lot of the lab next to Sara's. He set the parking brake and turned off the ignition. He reached over and cupped her face with his palm, caressing her cheek with his thumb.  
  
Sara glanced up at Nick with a bit of apprehension on her face.  
  
Nick's expression didn't falter as his hand dropped from her face and reached for her hand, giving it a squeeze. "You can trust me, Sar. I'm not going to push you to do anything you don't want to, but I want you to know that I care about you and I really do like you." He let go of her hand and smiled. "Hey, we've got some evidence to check in." He climbed out of the Denali and stood at the back with the door open before Sara climbed out of the passenger seat.  
  
She felt somewhat confused at the moment. She'd pretty much told him that she'd wanted to have sex with him as they waited out the storm and then she had backpedaled about whether she should even be attracted to him. He'd figured out her darkest secret and had revealed his own to her. That alone was a complete shock to her. Nick wasn't the man that she'd made him out to be, there was a lot more to him than she'd allowed herself to see, and she wondered what else there was to Nick Stokes that she had missed.  
  
She studied him quietly as they pulled their packs out and then grabbed the evidence bag with the chute inside. They closed the back door of the Denali and walked toward the front door of the lab holding the bag between them. As they walked down the hallway they caught a few amused stares at their damp and rumpled appearance. They checked the chute into evidence and decided to grab a cup of coffee in the break room.  
  
Warrick Brown sat on the couch in the break room, glancing up as they entered. "Grissom was about to send a search party out for you two."  
  
Nick glanced over at Sara and had to restrain a chuckle at the visual image he was entertaining after what Sara had said earlier that night about getting caught getting it on in the middle of the desert.  
  
Sara looked at him with a smug expression, both eyebrows raised, silently telling him he'd be a dead man if he uttered a word to Warrick.  
  
Neither of them spoke.  
  
Warrick observed their appearance. "Looks like you got caught in a storm."  
  
"You can say that again." Sara's clothes were mostly dry, but she felt as if her entire body had been chaffed by the wet fabric as they'd hiked.  
  
Nick nodded, sipping a cup of coffee. "Next time, I don't care what the weatherman says, I'm bringing a coat."  
  
Warrick chuckled. "Well, did you find anything up there? Or was it just another wild goose chase?"  
  
Sara grinned widely exposing the gap in her teeth. "We found a parachute."  
  
Warrick's eyebrows show up and he glanced over at Nick who looked smug. "No way."  
  
Nick nodded. "Yeah, we found it not too far from the Denali, after we'd gotten soaking wet from the storm and had to hike back out in the cold. I'm pretty sure it was either washed down there or blew around in the storm."  
  
Grissom walked into the break room and he registered that Nick and Sara stood there drinking coffee. "Did you get lost?"  
  
They both looked up.  
  
"I was about ready to send a search team out for you." Grissom continued a hint of worry and annoyance in his voice.  
  
"We got caught in a storm, Gris." Sara tried to explain. "No cell phone reception."  
  
"Yeah, we waited it out before we hiked back out." Nick added taking another sip of his coffee.  
  
Grissom peered at them over the rim of his glasses. "Did you find anything?"  
  
Nick nodded. "Yeah, we found a parachute."  
  
Grissom's eyebrows shot up. "Really."  
  
Sara nodded. "Sometimes technology works." A smirk played at her lips. Grissom sometimes scoffed at expensive high tech solutions like computer modeling when good old fashioned calculations and footwork would due.  
  
"Good work." Grissom glanced at Warrick. "Don't you have a case to be working on?"  
  
Warrick was not intimidated by Grissom. "Waiting for Sanders to give me results."  
  
Grissom nodded and turned on his heels. He appeared to be lost in thought as he meandered down the hallway, head tilted to the side, destination known only to him.  
  
Warrick got up from the couch. "Well, I'd better get back to Sanders before Grissom talks to him first."  
  
Nick and Sara both waved at Warrick as he left the room.  
  
Nick glanced at Sara and studied her. Despite her stiffly dried clothes and generally rumpled appearance, he still found her very attractive. "Hey, Sar?"  
  
She glanced at him. She had to restrain a chuckle. Nick's normally shortly cropped hair was in disarray from the rain. His shirt and shorts were rumpled, but she thought he looked adorable. "Yeah?"  
  
Nick cleared his throat. "You want to catch some breakfast?"  
  
Sara couldn't stop the edges of her mouth from curling up. "Are you asking me out?"  
  
Nick fumbled uncharacteristically with his answer. "Uh, yes, I mean, no, I mean, not if it's going to make you uncomfortable." He looked embarrassed and took a sip from his coffee before grinning.  
  
Sara chuckled in spite of herself. "I'm already uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure that I've got some chaffing under these clothes that could rival rug burn." She took another sip from her coffee, but didn't answer his question about breakfast.  
  
Nick chuckled. "Yeah, what do you put on a chaffed ass anyway?" He winced as he pulled gingerly at his shorts.  
  
Sara giggled and had to set her coffee down as she looked at him.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at her and feigned a hurt expression. "What's so funny, Sidle?"  
  
She had to bite her lip to stop laughing. "Just the visual image." She started laughing again and then tried to keep a straight face as she queried him. "I'm sorry, but is it just your ass that's chaffed?"  
  
Nick had to spit his coffee back into his cup. "Sara?!" Her comment had taken him by surprise and his face flushed with color.  
  
She continued laughing.  
  
Catherine Willows walked in and observed the two younger CSIs. A smile formed on her face as she noticed Nick's red face and Sara's laughter. Neither of those things was a common occurrence. "What's going on?"  
  
Sara glanced up smiling, elbowing Nick. "Catherine would know what to do about it, she's a mom."  
  
Catherine looked at them curiously. "What would I know about?"  
  
Nick just chuckled and shook his head.  
  
Sara tried to restrain her laughter. "Nick's got some chaffing on his ass."  
  
Catherine laughed; a deep throaty laugh.  
  
Nick glanced at Sara and a mischievous grin formed on his face. "Sara's ass is chaffed too."  
  
Sara tried to stop laughing and shot Nick an embarrassed grin before she turned back to Catherine.  
  
Catherine raised an eyebrow. "I heard you got caught in a storm."  
  
Nick nodded. "Yeah, we just got back. Let me tell you, hiking in wet clothes isn't fun."  
  
"I heard you found a chute." Catherine grinned.  
  
Sara nodded.  
  
"Good work." Catherine raised an eyebrow and glanced up at the clock. "I've got to go pick up Lindsey, I'll see you guys tonight."  
  
"Bye, Cath." Nick called out.  
  
Catherine glanced over her shoulder and spoke in a loud whisper. "Try Vaseline. That's what I used on Lindsey's diaper rash when she was a baby."  
  
Sara looked smug as she glanced over at Nick whose face was starting to flush with color again. She reached over and touched his arm. "Ah, Nick, I'm sorry I embarrassed you."  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "No you're not."  
  
She chuckled. "You have to admit, it's kind of funny."  
  
Nick deadpanned her. "No it's not." A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.  
  
She restrained smile couldn't contain the glimmer in her eye. "Is your invitation for breakfast still open?"  
  
Nick crossed his arms in front of his body and considered her words for a moment, trying to keep the smile off of his face. "I don't know, Sara, I mean, you said you were uncomfortable."  
  
Sara feigned a pout. "I didn't mean that you made me uncomfortable, I just meant my clothes were making me uncomfortable."  
  
Nick chuckled and waggled his eyebrows at her. "Are you propositioning me again, Sidle?"  
  
Sara's face turned red and she laughed nervously. "No, I'm not."  
  
"Ok." Nick took another sip from his coffee. "I have an idea though."  
  
She turned to him suspiciously. "And just what would that be?"  
  
Nick chuckled again. "Don't worry, Sara, you can trust me."  
  
"You still haven't answered my question." Sara turned her body to face him as her hip rested against the break room counter.  
  
He turned his face toward her. "I provide the breakfast, you get the Vaseline."  
  
Sara flashed him a curious expression. "I'm not sure I'm following you completely, it sounds about as kinky as your horseback adventure." Her voice was low.  
  
Nick grinned. "I suppose it does. However, what I'm suggesting is you come over and let me cook you breakfast. We can each grab a shower and change, and if you bring some Vaseline, I think we'll both be feeling a little more comfortable."  
  
Sara started laughing again. "You know if anyone finds out about this, they're going to get the wrong idea."  
  
Nick raised a single eyebrow at her and smiled. "Yeah, I've never invited a gorgeous woman over before for breakfast and Vaseline."  
  
Sara swatted at him, still laughing. "Ok, you're on, Stokes. But don't breathe a word of this to anyone."  
  
Nick raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, I told you that you could trust me."  
  
"Let me just grab a change of clothes out of my locker and I'll meet you at your house in about twenty minutes." Sara grinned.  
  
"Ok." Nick grinned as Sara disappeared out the break room door.  
  
About twenty minutes later, Sara pulled up in front of Nick's modest one- story home. She softly knocked at the door. When Nick didn't answer the door right away, she knocked again a little harder. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal a freshly showered Nick standing there in nothing but a towel. Sara couldn't help but stare at his well defined chest as he let her in. She finally looked away from him as she reached into her bag and pulled out the Vaseline and a bottle of talc. "Uh, I think you might want to try both of these."  
  
Nick chuckled at how distracted she looked at seeing him in a towel. "I'm sorry I didn't plan to answer the door like this. Give me a few minutes, I'll be right back."  
  
Sara sat down on Nick's couch trying to get the image of him in that towel slung low on his hips out of her mind. She wasn't having a great deal of success as a smile played on her lips.  
  
A few minutes later, Nick emerged, dressed in loose fitting shorts and a clean T-shirt. He had a smile on his face. "Uh, you can take a shower if you want."  
  
Sara stood up and grinned. "We're not going to tell anyone about this are we?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "Nope, this is just as embarrassing for me as it is for you."  
  
As she walked toward the bathroom, she paused in front of Nick. "Thanks."  
  
He raised a curious eyebrow. "For what?"  
  
"Everything." She smiled and leaned up and kissed him softly before disappearing into the bathroom.  
  
As Nick heard the water start he touched his lips curiously. He really wasn't sure what was going on with Sara. The last 24 hours had been a bit of a roller coaster. He wanted her; that was indisputable. What she wanted was another question. He distracted himself by starting breakfast.  
  
Sara emerged a short time later looking much more refreshed. She walked over to the kitchen and watched Nick cooking for a few minutes. "That looks good."  
  
He smiled at her. "Thanks."  
  
Neither of them said anything for a while. Nick was wondering what Sara was thinking and Sara was wondering what Nick was thinking. Fortunately, the food was done cooking and Nick served it up on a couple of plates.  
  
As they ate, Sara finally broke the silence. "Feeling better?"  
  
Nick nodded with a grin. "You?"  
  
She nodded. "I sure hope Catherine doesn't tell anyone."  
  
Nick laughed. "Well, I wouldn't hold your breath. I have a feeling I'm going to be hearing about it for a while."  
  
Sara started to giggle. "It is pretty funny."  
  
"No it's not." Nick grinned as he took a bite of his food.  
  
Sara shook her head and yawned. "I should go as soon as we're done eating."  
  
"Ok." Nick smiled. "Thanks for bringing the Vaseline and talc."  
  
Sara started laughing again. "No problem. You can keep them; I've got more at home."  
  
Nick raised both of his eyebrows. "You've had this problem before?"  
  
Sara continued laughing and shook her head. "Those are standard equipment in the female arsenal, Nick."  
  
Nick couldn't contain his laughter.  
  
They finished eating and brought the dishes into Nick's kitchen, chatting as they did the dishes.  
  
Sara yawned again and gathered her bag. "I should go."  
  
"Ok." Nick grinned at her and walked her to the door.  
  
They stood there staring at each other for a few moments; eyes traveling to each others lips. Finally, Nick stepped toward her and leaned over to kiss her softly. Sara responded by softly dropping her bag on the floor and trailing her fingers along his arms until her hands connected with his. She parted her lips slightly and the kiss continued a little deeper for a few more minutes. They laced their fingers together and they grinned at each other as they broke the kiss.  
  
"I should go." Sara's voice was soft and a bit breathless as she continued looking at Nick's lips.  
  
Nick nodded. "Yeah." He leaned in and kissed her again.  
  
Sara finally pulled away, reluctantly letting go of Nick's hands and picking her bag back up. "Ok, bye." She leaned and kissed him softly once more before stepping back and grinning at him.  
  
Nick opened the door and watched until Sara had pulled out of his driveway, a grin firmly etched on his face. 


	4. Parachute

Sara was hunched over the fabric from the parachute that she and Nick had found in the desert. Their assumption that there would be no evidence left on the fabric because of the storm had proven mostly true. Other than the pieces of line that had appeared to have been cut, nothing to indicate that it had been part of this particular crime was present. Still, Sara poured over it looking for traces of anything that might reveal a little bit more of the story.  
  
She wrinkled her brow, how had this played out, was the chute really part of the crime they were investigating, or was it just a coincidental find in the desert? She let out a deep breath and then sensed that she was being watched. She glanced up and tried to restrain the smile that threatened to break out across her face.  
  
Nick had an expression on his face that reflected that he'd been caught staring at her. "Uh, find anything?"  
  
She shook her head, slightly amused at him, slightly annoyed at the fact that there indeed wasn't anything on the fabric. "You find anything?"  
  
He nodded. "The cut ends match the cut lines from the vic's harness."  
  
Her eyebrows shot up.  
  
"We still don't have the who, but at least we have part of the how." Nick's mind drifted as he observed her slowly, his eyes unconsciously taking in the line of her body.  
  
"Nick?" Sara tried to swallow an amused smile.  
  
Nick blushed slightly knowing he'd been caught staring at her again in less than five minutes time. "Yeah?"  
  
"Just checking to see if you're listening." She smirked at him and turned back to the parachute.  
  
A confused expression crossed Nick's face. He hadn't heard a word she'd said, at least he didn't think he'd heard her say anything. He stepped toward the layout table, stopping next to her. He studied the fabric for a moment and leaned over toward it. He was just inches from Sara's side and he glanced at her, his voice a whisper. "Did you say something a minute ago? I was a little distracted."  
  
She chuckled softly. "I could tell." She didn't answer his question and she didn't look at him. She was trying not to be distracted herself.  
  
"You could, I mean, did you say something?" Nick asked again, letting his elbow barely touch hers.  
  
She glanced at him. "I'm trying to work here, Stokes." She had a smile playing at her lips, and she was trying desperately to restrain it.  
  
Nick raised his eyebrows in a teasing manner. "You didn't answer my question, Sara."  
  
Sara grinned. "I asked you how your ass was feeling." She was amused at the expression that crossed Nick's face.  
  
He looked somewhat embarrassed. "Uh, the Vaseline is doing wonders. How about yours?"  
  
She giggled. "Improving." There was a faint blush to her cheeks.  
  
Nick studied her for a moment. Her lips looked tantalizingly soft and he remembered in great detail how they felt against his.  
  
Sara could feel him watching her. "Nick, I'm trying to work." She didn't want to meet his gaze because she knew at this proximity she'd be tempted to kiss him.  
  
"Oh." He watched her a few moments longer.  
  
Sara giggled. "Stokes, you're not helping here."  
  
Nick reached over and trailed a finger down her arm. "You haven't found anything on that chute have you?"  
  
She shook her head and bit her lip.  
  
"Knowing you, you've been over it at least two or three times by now, am I right?" Nick continued with a grin on his face.  
  
She nodded and finally looked at him and laughed. "You're really not helping here."  
  
Nick tilted his head slightly. "I'm not?"  
  
She looked away. "No, you're distracting me."  
  
Nick laughed. "I thought so."  
  
"Did you have a point to coming in here beyond staring at me?" Sara blushed and tried to give the impression she was looking at the fabric on the table.  
  
"Just to update you on what I found." Nick grinned. He stood up and started toward the door before calling over his shoulder. "Oh, that and shift was over fifteen minutes ago. We're all going to the diner for breakfast. You in?"  
  
She glanced at him over her shoulder and chuckled. "Are you going to behave?"  
  
Nick waggled his eyebrows at her. "Maybe." With that he turned and walked down the hall.  
  
Sara straightened up and let out a deep breath. She wondered if he knew what kind of effect he had on her. She grinned, knowing Nick Stokes, he probably did. She headed out of the layout room toward the locker room to stow her things and to meet up with the rest of the crew. When she entered, the only one there was Nick. She raised her eyebrows quizzically. "Where is everyone?"  
  
He glanced up at her and grinned. "They left already, I told them to put our orders in."  
  
She smiled at him. "I suppose it pays to be predictable."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Yeah, Catherine is the only one who ever orders anything different. One of these days I may just order a vegetarian omelet."  
  
Sara giggled. "Really? Isn't that some sort of crime?"  
  
Nick looked a bit perplexed. "You eat them."  
  
"That's not what I meant. Don't you have to take some sort of oath to promise to eat meat all the days of your life when you're from Texas?" Sara teased as she pulled her jacket out of her locker.  
  
Nick stepped closer to her, both eyebrows raised, with his hands on his hips. "That's a state secret. How did you get that information?"  
  
Sara closed her locker laughing and poked his chest, tilting her head to the side. "I have an inside source."  
  
"Oh, really." Nick stepped even closer.  
  
Sara nodded as she backed against her locker.  
  
Nick hovered just inches from her. His hands left his hips and one rested on her side while the other traced the outline of her cheek.  
  
Sara rested her hands against his chest and just watched his eyes.  
  
Nick leaned a little closer as his hand slid into her hair.  
  
Sara's eyes fluttered closed and she could feel his warm breath on her cheek as his lips neared hers.  
  
Nick's lips gently touched hers and as Sara began to respond, they heard the door of the locker room creak open. They jumped apart and tried to act natural.  
  
Greg poked his head in. "There you are, Catherine said I could catch a ride with one of you, I had a test I had to finish up."  
  
"Sure, Greg, we're just about to head out of here." Nick ran his fingers through his hair and did his best to not look at Sara.  
  
Sara bit her lips, savoring the remaining taste of Nick's lips as she tried to get her heart rate under control. "I'm ready to head out. I'll meet you guys in the parking lot, ok?" She didn't look at Nick as she sauntered out of the locker room.  
  
Greg watched Sara with interest. It was no secret that the brilliant lab tech had nursed a crush on her since the day he'd met her. It was also no secret that Sara didn't return his feelings. Greg glanced at Nick who had noticed Greg watching Sara. "Think Sara might go out with me?"  
  
Nick chuckled softly. "We've been over this man. Sara just doesn't think you're her type. We'll find you a nice girl."  
  
"What if I'm not into nice." Greg waggled his eyebrows.  
  
Nick laughed at his friend. "Greg, my man, there are all kinds in Vegas." The two friends headed out of the locker room and down the hall.  
  
They found Sara standing next to her Denali grinning. "I'm driving."  
  
"Shotgun!" Greg called out and clamored for the front passenger seat.  
  
Nick tried to stifle a grin. He knew that Sara knew this would happen. The last thing they needed was for Greg to catch wind of chemistry between the two of them.  
  
She glanced at him as he climbed into the back seat and smirked.  
  
He raised a single eyebrow in response and grinned.  
  
Greg talked non-stop on the way to the diner, which was about a half of a mile from the lab.  
  
As the trio entered, Warrick, Catherine, and Grissom waved them over.  
  
"We already ordered for you." Catherine indicated as Nick slid in next to her.  
  
Sara slid in across from him next to Warrick and Grissom.  
  
Greg slid in next to Nick.  
  
Catherine wore a wry smile. "So, Nicky, how are you feeling today?"  
  
Sara tried to stifle a chuckle as she noticed the color rise in Nick's face.  
  
The rest of the crew looked at him a bit curiously. Grissom glanced at him. "I didn't know you were ill, Nicky."  
  
Nick shook his head. "I'm doing much better, thank you."  
  
"I mean, I know that can be painful. At least I can imagine that it would be painful." Catherine continued, thoroughly enjoying torturing Nick with her little bit of knowledge.  
  
Sara couldn't contain herself any longer and started laughing.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at her, but the color remained in his face. He turned toward Catherine. "You are a very evil woman, Catherine Willows."  
  
She chuckled. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."  
  
Warrick studied Nick for a moment, noticed Sara trying to stop laughing, and Catherine's smug expression. "What's the story?"  
  
"My curiosity is piqued as well." Grissom added with a half smile on his face.  
  
Greg just looked a bit confused. "I thought you were hiking. You were sick?"  
  
Sara dissolved into another fit of laughter.  
  
Nick gave her a warning look.  
  
Sara bit her lip.  
  
Catherine spilled the beans. "Nicky's got a bit of chaffed ass."  
  
Warrick busted out laughing.  
  
Greg joined in.  
  
Grissom looked at the table and couldn't help but laugh.  
  
Nick looked at Sara who was still laughing. "So does Sara."  
  
The rest of the table directed their attention toward her as the color started to rise in her face as her laughter subsided.  
  
"Nick, can I have a word with you?" Sara moved out of the booth and stood up, motioning for him to follow her. Her expression appeared to be one of annoyance.  
  
Nick lifted both of his hand and gestured toward Catherine on one side and Greg on the other. "I'm trapped at the moment."  
  
Greg quickly stood up. "There you go, Nick." He had an exaggerated grin on his face as he looked at Nick who was still sitting down. Greg glanced at Sara and winked.  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow at Nick and crossed her arms in front of her body.  
  
"Nick, man, she looks like she means business." Warrick quipped as he continued laughing.  
  
Nick stood up and followed Sara who made her way out of the diner. He called over his shoulder. "If I don't come back in a few minutes, you might have a crime scene to process."  
  
"We'll keep that in mind, Nicky." Grissom called out with an amused expression on his face.  
  
As Nick walked outside, he found Sara on the far side of her Denali, out of the line of sight of the rest of the team. "I'm sorry, Sara, I didn't mean to embarrass you."  
  
She looked up at him and grinned. "Oh, I didn't bring you out here to yell at you, Nick."  
  
He raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh, really?"  
  
She nodded and motioned for him to come stand next to her. "Yeah."  
  
He looked at her quizzically as he stopped next to her. "What then?"  
  
She leaned her shoulder against the Denali and tilted her head, her hand reached out and touched his arm. "Before Greg walked in, I believe we were in the middle of something."  
  
Nick chuckled and reached for her waist. "Don't you think they're going to get suspicious?"  
  
"Shut up and kiss me, Nick." She grinned at him, leaning toward him. "You can't just tease me like that and leave me hanging."  
  
He leaned down and kissed her softly, tasting her lips thoroughly. A few moments later he broke the kiss. "Is that better?" He looked at her mischievously.  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "It'll do for now." A smile played at her lips.  
  
He laughed deeply. "Sara, Sara, Sara."  
  
She poked him in the chest and raised both of her eyebrows. "If we don't go back in now, they will get suspicious."  
  
He nodded; an amused expression on his face. "After you."  
  
They walked back into the diner and resumed their seats. The rest of the group glanced at them curiously. Finally, Catherine broke the silence. "Everything ok?"  
  
Nick grinned as he looked at Sara. "Uh, huh. Sara just wanted a little advice about how to treat the aforementioned ass chaffing."  
  
Sara shot him a look that told him he'd pay for that comment later.  
  
He just grinned. He was pretty sure he was going to enjoy it. 


	5. A Lead

Nick peered into a high powered microscope comparing a fiber found on their vic to a fiber that Sara had found on the parachute after going over it a fourth time. It appeared to match, but they would have to do a chemical analysis of it to be sure. They didn't have much else to go on so far, and they were running down every possible lead. As of now, their vic was still listed as a John Doe.  
  
"What do you have?" Sara stood at the doorway of the lab Nick was working in. Her shoulder leaned against the frame and she smiled.  
  
He glanced up and smiled. "Take a look." He gestured toward the scope.  
  
The way the scopes were set up two people could view what was under it at the same time on opposite sides of the table; instead, Sara chose to walk over to where Nick was and lean in to look through that side of the scope.  
  
Nick didn't move very far out of the way. "Trying to tease me, Sidle."  
  
Sara just grinned as she looked into the scope. "Maybe." Sara had to bite her lip as Nick leaned his knee into the back of her thigh.  
  
"It appears to be a match to that fiber you pulled off the chute, but we're going to have to send it to Trace for more detailed analysis." Nick informed her as he reached over and subtly trailed his thumb up and down her thigh as his hand rested on his knee.  
  
There was a slight waver to Sara's voice. "Oh, well, let me know what you find out."  
  
A smile tugged at Nick's mouth as he glanced at her. "Anything else?"  
  
She pulled away from the scope and nodded her head. "I think I've got a lead on the vic's ID. I've got an address; Brass is going to meet us there in about half an hour. I just need to grab my stuff from the locker room." She was trying to act natural even though Nick's soft touch was causing her to feel anything but.  
  
He tilted his head slightly. "Ok, I'll just walk there with you."  
  
Sara stepped back and restrained her smile. "Ok."  
  
They slowly made their way to the locker room discussing the case, trying not to look too long at each other. As they entered the locker room, they noticed that they were alone. Sara grinned at Nick and grabbed the lapels of his lab coat and pulled him toward her as she leaned back against the bay of lockers.  
  
Nick raised an amused eyebrow. "A little forceful aren't we?"  
  
Sara tilted her head and smiled. "Only when I know what I want."  
  
"Oh, really, and what's that?" Nick replied coyly as he rested his hands on her hips.  
  
"Just a little bit of this." She leaned in and kissed him, her lips slightly parted.  
  
Nick responded to the kiss, teasing her with his tongue as he ran it along her lower lip.  
  
Sara whimpered slightly as she pulled Nick closer to her, wanting to explore his mouth with her tongue.  
  
Nick's cell phone rang on his belt. They broke the kiss and reluctantly, Nick stepped away from Sara and pulled the phone out of its holster and answered it. "Stokes." He glanced at Sara and mouthed 'Brass'.  
  
She nodded trying to catch her breath as she touched her lips with her fingers. She stepped toward her locker and opened it up, hanging up her lab coat before pulling out her jacket. As she turned around, she noticed Nick wiping a trace of lipstick off of his mouth. Her lips curled up in a smile.  
  
The door to the locker room creaked open and Catherine walked in.  
  
"Hey, Cath." Sara greeted the veteran CSI just as Nick ended his call with Brass.  
  
"Grissom's looking for the two of you, something about meeting Brass." Catherine informed them as she opened her locker and pulled out her lab coat.  
  
"I just talked to Brass." Nick gestured with his cell phone as he put it back in its holster. "Thanks." He glanced at Sara and raised an eyebrow.  
  
She nodded and headed for the door. They were fortunate Brass had called when he did because Catherine very well might have walked in on them.  
  
Neither of them said a word as they headed out of the building toward Sara's Denali. As they climbed in and closed the door, Nick turned toward her. "That was awfully damn close there, Sara." A hint of a grin tugged at his mouth.  
  
Sara chuckled. "You enjoyed it and you know it, Nick." She steered the SUV toward the address in the north part of Vegas that she'd gotten from Brass.  
  
He glanced at her. "Enjoyed kissing you? Definitely. Enjoyed almost getting caught? Not really."  
  
Sara smirked at him. "You're not saying you wouldn't be caught dead kissing me are you?"  
  
Nick laughed. "Not in a million years. I just don't think we need to go public just yet, do you?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, I don't." She studied him out of the corner of her eye as she drove. "We're both still trying to figure out what this is, aren't we?"  
  
He nodded. "I'm definitely attracted to you." He couldn't help but memorize the curve of her face as he stared at her.  
  
Sara noticed him staring. "You know, people are going to figure this out a lot sooner if you keep staring at me." She chuckled softly.  
  
"I'll try and work on that. Could you try not being so beautiful?" Nick grinned at her.  
  
Sara laughed a little self consciously. "This should be it up here." She pulled the Denali in behind the department issued non-descript sedan that Brass drove.  
  
Before she had an opportunity to descend from the vehicle, Brass motioned for her to roll down her window. "Dead end."  
  
Sara looked perplexed. "What gives?"  
  
Brass gestured toward the house. "Our missing person isn't missing anymore and he's very much alive. Sorry you had to come all the way out here for nothing."  
  
"Thanks, Jim." Nick called out from the passenger seat.  
  
Brass waved and climbed back in his car before driving off.  
  
As Sara pulled back out onto the road, she glanced at Nick out of the corner of her eye. He had laid his head back on the seat and had his eyes closed. She continued glancing at him as she drove, he didn't move. "Hey, Nick?"  
  
He raised his head and opened his eyes. "Yeah?"  
  
"Do you want to take a break?" She studied him intently with each glance.  
  
He locked eyes with her for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good."  
  
Sara pulled into the parking lot of a park and turned off the ignition. As soon as she had her seatbelt off, Nick did too and they reached for each other hungrily, meeting in an electric kiss. Sara's arms slid around Nick's neck, her fingers running through his hair as her tongue slid past his. Nick snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her almost into his lap and devoured her lips with his. Sara let out a moan as Nick began to slide his hand up her shirt.  
  
The search light from a police cruiser caused them to pull apart. Sara tried to straighten her shirt and act natural. A uniformed officer came to Sara's window and she rolled it down. She recognized him. "Hey, Derek."  
  
"Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes. I thought maybe I was breaking up a lover's lane tryst or something." The young officer let out a chuckle. "I should have recognized the department plates."  
  
"Yeah, I pulled in here to answer my cell phone." Sara explained.  
  
Nick waved at Derek. "You gonna be at the softball game on Sunday?"  
  
"Yeah, I think the team is looking pretty good, but dayshift has a new guy they say is pretty good. Anyway, I need to get back on patrol, see you guys later." He waved and headed back to his patrol car.  
  
As Sara rolled the window back up, Nick started to laugh. "I guess we should take a break somewhere else."  
  
Sara started to giggle. "Yeah, I guess if we want to make out we need to go somewhere with a little more privacy." She started the engine of the Denali and headed back to the lab.  
  
"How's your ass doing?" Nick grinned at her suggestively.  
  
She blushed slightly. "Good as new, what about yours?"  
  
"The same." Nick chuckled.  
  
They pulled into the lot of the lab and descended from the Denali. Nick walked around the front of the vehicle toward the driver's side which faced away from the building toward a more deserted part of the parking lot, lit only by a dim street light, before Sara could get too far. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to that side of the SUV. "Feel like taking a break?" He had a devilish grin on his face as he looked at her.  
  
Her voice was full of curiosity. "What did you have in mind?"  
  
Nick gently pushed her back against the side of the Denali; his hands rested on her hips and he leaned over to kiss her. Sara immediately responded to the kiss, opening her mouth as his tongue slid past hers and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Nick pushed his knee between her legs and leaned against her so that she straddled his thigh. Sara let out a whimper and then a groan as Nick's hands slid down from her hips and cupped her butt, pulling her firmly against him. She clung to his shoulders as she unconsciously began grinding against his leg. Nick's lips left her mouth and he began to nuzzle her neck.  
  
A voice in the distance talking on a cell phone pulled them apart as they realized that someone familiar was headed out into the parking lot. Sara leaned against the Denali trying to catch her breath as Nick released her. Thinking quickly, he pulled out his mini-maglite and flashed it at the front tire, crouching down next to it.  
  
Grissom rounded the corner and regarded Nick and Sara curiously in the dim light. "Is there a problem?"  
  
Nick glanced up at Grissom. "Sara thought the front end was pulling like the tire was low on air or something. I checked the pressure and it seems fine, might be something with the alignment."  
  
Grissom nodded, satisfied. He glanced at Sara. "Are you feeling ok, Sara? You look a little flushed."  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, I just had the heat on in the Denali a little high."  
  
"Ok, well, I have to go meet with the Detective Vega, I'll see you both later." Grissom headed over to his own vehicle and drove out of the parking lot.  
  
Sara looked down at Nick. "That was too close."  
  
Nick grinned. "Yeah, we should head inside."  
  
Sara glanced at Nick out of the corner of her eye as the approached the building. "Stay on the other side of the building until the end of shift, ok?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "A little too much for you?"  
  
Sara swatted at him and shot him a withering glance. "Just stay away from me, Stokes."  
  
"Only if you stay away from me, Sidle." Nick called after her as she headed down the hallway at a brisk pace.  
  
"No, you stay away from me!" Sara shook her head and disappeared into one of the labs.  
  
Catherine happened to choose that moment to enter the hallway. She looked at Sara's quickly departing form and then at Nick. "What did you do to piss her off?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "Trust me; I didn't do anything to piss her off."  
  
Catherine deadpanned him. "Yeah, right."  
  
Nick just shook his head and headed down the hallway.  
  
Greg poked his head out of the DNA lab and motioned for Nick to come in. Nick looked at him curiously. Greg whispered. "What did you do to piss Sara off?"  
  
Nick shook his head. "I didn't do anything to piss her off."  
  
Greg looked at him with an expression that clearly said he didn't believe him. "Then why in the hell would she say loud enough for the whole lab to hear that you should stay away from her?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "She's fine." He shook his head and went toward the break room in search of coffee.  
  
As he entered the break room, Warrick glanced up. "What's with Sara?"  
  
Nick raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I heard her yell down the hall for you to stay away from her, what did you do?" Warrick narrowed his gaze at Nick.  
  
Nick raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't do anything."  
  
"She looked mad, her face was all red." Warrick replied, not quite believing Nick.  
  
"I didn't do anything." Nick repeated. "I need to get back to Trace to see if they've found anything on my fiber." He left the break room without getting any coffee and went down to the Trace Lab. Upon entering, he found that Sara was already in there talking to one of the lab techs. "I didn't realize you were in here. Did the analysis yield anything?"  
  
Sara shook her head and the tech narrowed her gaze at Nick. It seemed that the entire lab had heard Sara's last comment to him.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at Sara. "Can I talk to you in the hallway for a minute, Sara?"  
  
"Yeah, just a second." She turned her attention to the tech. "Page me if you get anything ok?"  
  
The tech nodded, glaring at Nick as he and Sara left the Trace Lab.  
  
Sara looked at him curiously. "What's up?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "Nothing except that the entire lab seems to think I've pissed you off for some reason. I think they overheard you telling me to stay away from you."  
  
She raised an amused eyebrow at him. "This could work in our favor you know."  
  
Nick crossed his arms in front of his body. "Really; and exactly how would that be?"  
  
"It'll throw any suspicion off." She smirked and then glanced around. Her voice was softer now. "Do you want to grab breakfast after shift?"  
  
"Breakfast?" Nick queried her suspiciously.  
  
She nodded innocently. "You know, pancakes, omelets, that sort of thing. Breakfast."  
  
Nick chuckled. "I'm aware of what it is."  
  
"My place it is then after shift." She winked and grinned at him over her shoulder as she walked back down the hallway.  
  
Nick swallowed hard and rushed into the men's room to try and regain control of himself. He and Sara had been dancing around the issue for days now since they had been stuck together in that storm on the ridge. The tension between them was about killing him. He only had to look at her and he was turned on, in fact he thought he'd probably been more turned on more in the last few days than turned off. He let out a deep breath and glanced at his watch. Only three hours and fifty-eight minutes left until shift was over. 


	6. Crossed Wires

Nick's mind was not on work. He was having a hard time concentrating. The clock seemed to tick slower with each passing moment. All he could think about was Sara and wanting to be alone with her somewhere that they wouldn't be interrupted. And her invitation for breakfast, he had to wonder if that's all the invitation was for, heaven knew he hoped it was more, a lot more than breakfast.  
  
"Hey, did you hear me, man?" Warrick's voice finally penetrated Nick's thoughts.  
  
Nick looked up at him with an expression that said that he clearly did not hear a word Warrick just said. "Sorry, I was concentrating."  
  
"On what? The new lab tech?" Warrick chuckled, he knew that when Nick was distracted it was rarely about work.  
  
Nick shook his head. "You mean the one that glared at me earlier tonight because I needed to ask Sara something about our case."  
  
"Speaking of Sara, did you apologize to her for pissing her off?" Warrick had an older brother tone in his voice. He was a bit protective of Sara, as was Nick after what they now referred to as 'The Hank Incident'.  
  
"I told you, I didn't do anything." Nick tried to hide his amusement. If Warrick only knew why she wanted Nick to stay away from her while they were in the building, he might be in for the shock of his life.  
  
"I still think you need to apologize." Warrick pressed him.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow figuring it was easier to agree with Warrick than to continue the conversation, especially if he started to ask more probing questions. "I'll think about it."  
  
"So you admit, you did something." Warrick chuckled with satisfaction.  
  
Nick shook his head. "Didn't you come in here to ask me something?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, the gal in Trace wanted me to let you know that the analysis came back on your fiber." Warrick explained.  
  
Nick wrinkled his brow. "She couldn't just page me?"  
  
Warrick chuckled. "Maybe she's afraid of you, I mean Sara did tell you to stay away from her."  
  
Nick rolled his eyes. "Very funny." He got up from his workstation and headed down the hall toward the Trace Lab. As he entered, the lab tech looked up.  
  
She looked flustered. "Nick Stokes?"  
  
He nodded and extended his hand. "I don't think we've met. Clarice isn't it?"  
  
She regarded his hand for a moment before taking it warily. "Charise actually."  
  
"Sorry." Nick flashed her a grin. "Warrick Brown said the analysis was back on those fibers."  
  
She nodded. "Here is the report. They are chemically identical in make up, of course, that only proves they were made out of the same material, not that they are from the same source."  
  
Nick raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Uh, thanks, Charise." He shook his head as he walked out of the lab and wandered down the hall studying the report.  
  
He nearly collided with Catherine. "Hey, watch where you're going, Nicky."  
  
He looked at her with a sheepish expression. "Sorry, Cath." He held up the lab report as explanation.  
  
She chuckled at him. "Tip for the day, don't walk and chew gum."  
  
He grinned at her and turned to continue down the hall, when Catherine stopped him by placing her hand on his arm. He glanced at her curiously.  
  
"Uh, Nick, did you apologize to Sara? In the interest of team dynamics, you might want to talk to her if you haven't already." Catherine's expression was measured.  
  
Nick chuckled softly. "Like I said before, I didn't do anything, but if it will make everyone feel better, I'll talk to her."  
  
Catherine flashed him a grin. "Thanks, Nicky." She turned to walk away and then turned around quickly. "Oh, one more thing, Nick."  
  
He glanced back at her.  
  
"Lindsey's birthday is Sunday. I'm having a barbecue and a pool party." Her smile was wide and inviting.  
  
"What time? I've got a softball game at noon." Nick replied.  
  
"Four." Catherine replied.  
  
Nick flashed her a grin. "I'll be there." He continued down the hallway and walked into the break room hoping that somehow, shift was over. He glanced at the clock. Twenty-six minutes to go. He poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip. He immediately spit it back into his cup. Whoever had made coffee had forgotten to use a filter.  
  
Grissom entered the room and made his way over to the coffee machine.  
  
Nick stopped him. "Uh, you might not want to do that. Someone forgot to use a filter when they made this last batch."  
  
Grissom looked mildly amused. "Better you than me."  
  
Nick chuckled as he dumped out his cup of coffee and then the entire pot. "Save someone else from scraping this crap out of their teeth." Nick began making a fresh pot of coffee and filled a cup with water so he could rinse out his mouth.  
  
"Nicky?" Grissom began in a fatherly tone.  
  
Nick glance up at him as he spit the coffee grounds into the sink. "Yeah, Gris?"  
  
"Did you do something to upset Sara?" Everyone knew how protective Grissom was of his protégé.  
  
"Why do you ask?" Nick was pretty certain that the loose lips around the lab had reported to Grissom the comment that Sara had tossed over her shoulder at him as they had entered the building.  
  
"Uh, Greg informs me that she asked you to stay away from her. Rather loudly, I might add." Grissom regarded Nick over the rim of his glasses.  
  
Nick pressed the brew button on the coffee machine. "Gris, I did not piss Sara off. But if it will make you, Greg, Warrick, and Catherine all feel better I will talk to her. But seriously, I didn't do anything."  
  
"Then why did she yell at you?" Grissom pressed him.  
  
Just then, Sara entered the break room.  
  
Nick and Grissom glanced up at her.  
  
"Why do I feel like you've been talking about me?" Sara smiled a bit self consciously.  
  
Grissom gave her a serious expression. "Uh, I was just asking Nick what he did to upset you. Greg informed me that you yelled at Nick to stay away from you."  
  
Sara couldn't restrain the grin that spread across her face as she let out a chuckle. "He didn't do anything, Gris. We're both trying to break this case. I simply told him he'd better stay on the other side of the lab so I could break it first."  
  
Grissom shook his head and glanced at Nick and then Sara. "You're supposed to be working together. This isn't a competition." He glanced at Nick. "Usually, I only have to deal with you and Warrick doing this."  
  
Nick chuckled and glanced at Sara who winked at him while Grissom's attention was on Nick. It was all he could do to not smile. Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, Gris. Won't happen again, right, Sara?"  
  
Grissom glanced over at Sara and she nodded as Nick winked at her and then waggled his eyebrows. Grissom headed toward the door of the break room.  
  
Sara narrowed her gaze at Nick. "That is so unfair."  
  
Nick chuckled and pour himself a cup of fresh coffee. "Life's not fair, Sara."  
  
She smirked. "You know what I mean, Stokes."  
  
He just grinned. "Just returning the favor."  
  
She chuckled. "We still on for later?"  
  
"Want me to bring anything?" He regarded her curiously.  
  
She grinned. "Just your good looks and charm."  
  
"How much of my charm should I bring?" He took another sip of his coffee and studied her. His question was loaded with an underlying meaning.  
  
She considered his question for a minute and then softly replied, biting her lip nervously as she looked at him. "Can we play it by ear?"  
  
He chuckled and nodded. "Of course."  
  
"Give me an hour, I have to make a quick stop on the way home." Sara smiled as she turned to leave.  
  
Nick groaned inwardly, he wondered if she knew what that smile did to him. He finished his cup of coffee and headed to the locker room. Shift wasn't over for another few minutes and frankly he didn't care, he just wanted to get out of the building. Another forty-seven minutes and he could go over to Sara's. He thought he'd have enough time to swing home, grab a very cold shower and change his clothes.  
  
Exactly fifty-nine minutes after Sara had left him in the break room, he stood in front of her door. He wore a pair of faded blue jeans and a blue polo shirt embroidered with the logo of the Texas Rangers. He raised his hand and knocked softly on the door.  
  
A few moments later, Sara opened the door wide. She too, had showered and changed her clothes. She wore a well worn pair of faded Levi button fly jeans and a snug fitting red V-neck ribbed T-shirt. Sara's mouth curled up in a smile. "I hope you like pancakes."  
  
Nick chuckled and grinned at her. "I happen to love pancakes."  
  
"Good, because you have flipping duty." She flashed him a smug smile. "Do you like blueberries?"  
  
He nodded and smiled. "As a matter of fact, I do."  
  
"Good, because we're having blueberry pancakes." She walked into the kitchen with Nick on her heels.  
  
Sara put Nick in charge of flipping the pancakes while she strategically placed the blueberries into the batter of each individual pancake.  
  
Nick tried to restrain his laughter. "Uh, I think this one only has six blueberries."  
  
She crossed her arms in front of her body and tilted her head. "Are you mocking me, Nick?"  
  
He chuckled. "Uh, yes, I am."  
  
"I happen to like my blueberries spread out evenly. I learned that trick watching Martha Stewart." She informed him as she reached for another handful of blueberries.  
  
Nick's eyebrows shot up in amusement. "You watch Martha Stewart? Now that's something I would never have guess about you."  
  
She restrained a quip and studied him for a second. "There's a lot about me you don't know."  
  
He grinned at her. "I'm sure there is." He reached over and stole a blueberry, popping it into his mouth.  
  
A faint blush colored her face. "Hey, I think we've got enough to get started." She grabbed the plate of pancakes and carried them over to the table.  
  
Nick watched her with a amusement. He turned off the burner and followed her over to the table. They made small talk as they ate. Nick couldn't hide his open stares at her as he watched her eat.  
  
It just made Sara laugh self consciously. "Would you stop staring. You make me feel like I've got something on my face."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Uh, actually you do." He reached over and brushed a stray drop of syrup from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.  
  
Sara froze for a moment and then grinned at him. "So, did I have something on my face every other time you stared at me during shift?"  
  
Nick shook his head. "No, I was just staring because you're beautiful."  
  
They finished eating and carried the dishes into the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, let me wash the dishes." Nick volunteered.  
  
Sara grinned and stepped aside. "I'm not going to argue with a man who wants to do housework." She hoisted herself up on the counter next to the sink so she could continue talking to Nick as he washed the dishes.  
  
He rinsed off the last dish and put it in her dish rack. He leaned his hip against the counter and placed his hand on her thigh. "Thanks for breakfast. You make a mean pancake, Sidle."  
  
She grinned at him. "You flipped them."  
  
He chuckled softly, his hand began to caress her thigh through the fabric of her jeans.  
  
Sara reached over and traced Nick's lips with her fingers.  
  
He pulled away from the counter to stand directly in front of her, positioned between her parted legs, a hand on either of her thighs.  
  
Sara looked into his eyes and traced his brows, leaning closer to his face until her lips were just inches from his. Her eyes fluttered closed.  
  
Nick closed the distance between them and pressed his lips against hers in a soft sensuous kiss. She tasted faintly of blueberries and syrup.  
  
They shared soft deep kisses for quite a while, content to savor the feel and taste of each others lips.  
  
Sara rested her arms on Nick's shoulders and parted her lips slightly allowing Nick's tongue to move past hers as the kiss intensified.  
  
Nick continued caressing her thighs with his hands, pulling her slightly closer to him as he leaned against the counter.  
  
Their kisses were slow and deep, not frenzied as they had been earlier when the possibility of being interrupted was present.  
  
Nick's hands slid up Sara's thighs to cup her butt and she started to giggle. He broke the kiss and looked at her quizzically as he tried to catch his breath. "You find that funny?"  
  
She shook her head as she looked into his eyes and brushed her thumb over his lower lip. "No, I like having your hands on my ass."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Then what's so funny?" He tried to grab her thumb with his teeth, but Sara pulled her hand away just in time.  
  
"I'm getting a kink in my neck." She grinned at him. "Maybe we should move."  
  
Nick chuckled and stepped back slightly, his hands firmly on her butt as he pulled her off the counter. As she slid down his body, and pressed herself against him, Nick had to stifle a groan. He gently pinned her against the counter with his body, pressing his lips to hers again.  
  
Sara murmured against his mouth. "We didn't get very far."  
  
Nick broke the kiss and began to press his lips against her neck. "What did you have in mind?" He continued to nibble at her neck, soothing it with kisses.  
  
"Mmmn. I can't remember." Sara murmured, her mind becoming a bit foggy.  
  
Nick pressed his knee between Sara's legs and gradually pulled her onto his thigh as he gripped her butt. His lips returned to hers in a deep and probing kiss.  
  
Sara whimpered into Nick's mouth as he pulled her against him, causing her to grind against his thigh. She clung to Nick's shoulders at the sensations of pleasure coursing through her body as she rocked her hips against him.  
  
One of Nick's hands edged up her back and slid under her shirt. His fingers lightly caressing the skin on her back.  
  
Sara groaned and broke the kiss, trying to catch her breath. "Nick." She felt unable to move as she clung to him, her legs reduced to jello.  
  
Nick whispered against her ear. "Yeah, Sar?" He was beginning to feel very aroused.  
  
"I need to sit down." She was still trying to catch her breath.  
  
He chuckled softly and stepped away from her, immediately moving back in to grab her waist as her legs gave way. "Nice to know I've got that effect on you, Sar."  
  
"If it wasn't true, I'm sure I'd have something sharp and witty to respond with." Sara giggled.  
  
Nick scooped her up and carried her over to the couch, sitting down and pulling her into his lap. He grinned at her as his arms held her around her waist. "Is that better, Ms. Sidle?"  
  
She nodded. "I think so." She studied him for a moment and wrinkled her brow slightly.  
  
Nick noticed her expression. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"  
  
Sara traced his jaw line with her fingers. "Is this going to mess up our friendship? Are we going to be able to work together if things don't work out?"  
  
Nick regarded her seriously for a moment. "I don't want it to mess up either of those things. Have we figured out what this is yet? We haven't really talked about it."  
  
She bit her lip nervously. "What do you want, Nick?"  
  
Nick caressed her waist with his fingers. "I really care about you, Sara. I can't stop thinking about you. I'm seriously attracted to you. I'd really like to date you, but I also don't want to push you into something if you're not ready for it?"  
  
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to you, because I am. I can't stop thinking about you either. " She smiled at him, studying his features. "As for dating you, wouldn't all your other girlfriends get jealous." She raised an amused eyebrow to tease him.  
  
"I am popular among the ladies." He chuckled and dodged her fingers as she tried to poke him. As he grabbed her hands, he smiled. "But I'm only interested in being popular with you, Sar."  
  
"I really like the sound of that." She leaned down and kissed him softly. She grinned as she pulled away, whispering inches from his lips. "So, does that make me your girlfriend?"  
  
He chuckled. "I think it does." He leaned up and kissed her.  
  
She broke the kiss and searched his eyes. "Can we keep it a secret a while longer?"  
  
He nodded and grinned. "It could be more fun that way."  
  
She giggled and leaned in to kiss him again. As she pulled away she looked at him with a serious expression.  
  
He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What is it?"  
  
"I don't think I'm ready to go where this is going if we keep this up much longer." She nibbled at her lower lip.  
  
Nick leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. "It's ok. But you're right, if we keep this up, it's going to be very hard to stop. I'd better go home."  
  
Sara pulled herself off of Nick's lap and straightened her shirt. Nick stood up next to her and walked toward the door pausing to turn around as Sara followed him. She leaned up and kissed him softly. "I'll see you tonight." She grinned at him.  
  
Nick grinned at her in return as he turned and headed out the door. As he climbed into his Denali he decided that the first thing he was going to do when he got home was take a very cold shower.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: Let me just answer a few comments in a couple of the reviews. The first season, the CSIs drove Jeep Cherokees, then switched to driving Tahoes. This season, they are all driving Denalis, check the side of the vehicle. Just trying to be current.  
  
Secondly, while I am not going to dispute Nick and Sara's professionalism on the job, I would dispute that people that attracted to each other may in fact, make out at work regardless. Having worked in the real world, I've seen this happen between coworkers who think no one else has a clue, so it does happen. In fact it happens on other TV series where people are supposed to be professional: ER, The Guardian, etc.  
  
Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing, specific comments help a great deal, whether or not I agree with them, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read my ramblings. 


	7. Pool Party

The next few days were somewhat of an exquisite form of torture for Nick. Without a firm lead as to the ID of their vic, they were at a dead end. He had been assigned to work a case with Catherine, and Sara had pulled a case with Warrick. He saw her each day, he just didn't get to work with her, which in turn meant he didn't get to be alone with her during business hours, which also meant he didn't get to touch her. To see her and not get to touch her was killing Nick.  
  
Sara was somewhat amused at the effect working on separate cases was having on Nick. She too wanted to get him alone and kiss him senseless, but since they had decided to keep their newfound relationship under wraps for the time being, they didn't want to be too obvious. Oh, he had come over after shift for breakfast again, and they'd spent some quality time making out on the couch until Nick had to go home and take a cold shower, but neither one of them seemed to be able to get enough of the other and working separate cases wasn't helping.  
  
Sunday afternoon, Sara was already over at Catherine's for the pool party and barbecue for Lindsey's birthday. Sara had thrown a tank top and a pair of shorts over her athletic styled two piece swimsuit. Sitting on a deck chair as far away from the grill as possible, she had removed her tank top and was trying to get a little more color as she lay in the sun in her swimsuit top and shorts.  
  
Grissom seemed to be more at ease at Catherine's house than Sara thought possible as he and Lindsey and a few of her friends were having an animated discussion about lady bugs.  
  
Catherine came and sat down next to Sara. "I picked up some veggie burgers for you to put on the grill, Sara."  
  
Sara smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Cath." She gestured toward Grissom. "That surprises me."  
  
Catherine chuckled softly. "Lindsey has him wrapped around her little finger and he doesn't even know it. One of these days he might figure it out."  
  
Sara laughed softly. "Well wonders never cease."  
  
Catherine regarded Sara curiously for a moment. "Have you and he ever worked things out from the fallout you had last spring?"  
  
Sara rolled her eyes and shook her head. "What do you think?"  
  
"I'll take that as a no." Catherine replied gingerly.  
  
Sara chuckled. "It's ok, Catherine. I've moved on. I'm just a little sad that our friendship seems to have suffered as a result."  
  
Catherine patted her on the arm softly. "Trust me, he'll come back around eventually, I've known him a long time."  
  
Sara smiled. "When are the rest of the guys supposed to show up?"  
  
Catherine glanced at her watch. "Well, anytime. Greg was stopping to pick up something and Nick said he and Warrick had a softball game."  
  
As if on cue, Greg walked through the gate into the backyard. "Where's the birthday girl?" He grinned at Catherine and Sara. "Not to say that I don't want to spend some quality time with the two of you." He waggled his eyebrows.  
  
Sara chuckled, clearly amused.  
  
Catherine rolled her eyes and pointed toward the group of young girls and Grissom who were still chatting amiably. "Over there with the bugman."  
  
Greg made a cursory bow. "Ladies."  
  
As Lindsey saw him approach with a large package in hand, her eyes went wide. She diverted her conversation from Grissom and gave Greg a big hug as he handed her the package. She could be overheard saying. "My mom says I have to wait to open my presents until later."  
  
Sara turned toward Catherine. "She's a good kid."  
  
"I'd like to think so." Catherine smiled as she looked at her daughter.  
  
"You're a good mom, Catherine." Sara observed, smiling.  
  
"Thanks." Catherine and Sara had started off on the wrong foot when Sara had started working in Vegas, but they had formed a bond and had even weathered a few bumps along the way, including the investigation into the death of Catherine's ex-husband Eddie.  
  
The banter of male voices was getting louder as Nick and Warrick made their way through the gate into the back yard, gifts in hand.  
  
"I haven't hit that well since college." Nick was grinning.  
  
"Did you see the look on Ecklie's face when you hit that out of the park? That was priceless." Warrick added.  
  
"I take it you did well." Catherine smiled as she walked around the pool and greeted them.  
  
"Hey, Cath!" Nick gave her a bear hug and handed her the gift he held. "We kicked a little dayshift ass."  
  
Warrick patted his stomach. "Hey, Cath, do you need a little help getting food on the grill?"  
  
She raised an amused eyebrow at him. "Is that your way of saying you're hungry?" She rolled her eyes and gestured for him to follow her into the house.  
  
Nick noticed Sara sitting on the other side of the pool and tried to restrain his smile as he made his way over to sit next to her.  
  
She glanced over at him and smiled. Her voice was low. "How's it going, sexy?"  
  
Nick's eyes devoured Sara as he grinned back at her. "You're the one who's sexy."  
  
Sara leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "Careful, cowboy, the natives might get a little suspicious."  
  
He chuckled softly, his eyes taking note of how irresistibly soft her skin looked. "It's killing me that I've hardly seen you the last few days."  
  
Sara opened her eyes and laughed softly. "You've seen me, Nick, you just can't touch me right now." She shifted her weight slightly, unintentionally giving him a little better view of the curve of her chest.  
  
Nick's eyes widened for a moment, a hint of amusement in them. "Yeah, and I can see a whole lot of you that I can't touch right now."  
  
Sara glanced at him and smiled flirtatiously. "Like what you see, do you?"  
  
Nick nodded. "You know I do." His eyes confirmed his words.  
  
Sara glanced over at the other side of the pool where Grissom, Greg, and the girls were engrossed in some sort of game. She turned back toward Nick and raised a single eyebrow, reaching over and ever so lightly trailing her finger down his leg. "Maybe we can find a way to leave here a little early and spend a little time alone together. I noticed that we're both off the calendar tonight."  
  
Nick let out a low groan and gave her a look that would melt the polar ice cap. "Sara." There was an edge of warning in his voice. "Do you have any idea what I want to do to you right now?" He glanced over to the other end of the pool to make sure they weren't being observed then reached over and squeezed her hand caressing the back of it with his thumb.  
  
Sara nodded and bit her lip. "It's probably pretty close to what I'd like to do to you." Sara was beginning to feel turned on by Nick's light touch and the line of conversation and she squirmed slightly in her chair.  
  
Nick noticed Sara's reaction and dropped her hand smiling. "We'd better stop this if we don't want anyone to know what's going on between us."  
  
She nodded as she looked at him. "Good idea." Her eyes widened for a moment and then she met his gaze. "Maybe you should go for a swim."  
  
Nick raised a curious eyebrow and then glanced down and let out a groan as he became aware that he was a becoming little more turned on than he had thought. "Yeah, good idea. I sure as hell hope the water is cold."  
  
Sara had to stifle a giggle at his embarrassment.  
  
Nick glanced around to make sure no one at the far end of the pool was watching before he dove in.  
  
Greg sauntered over toward Sara after Nick had entered the pool. "Hey, Sara." Greg grinned at her.  
  
"Hey, Greggo." Sara was glad for something to distract her from Nick for the moment.  
  
Greg sat down on the chair that Nick had just occupied. "So, Sara, I was wondering. I mean I understand if you have to think about it. I mean it's a pretty big decision and all. But if you don't have to think about it, that's ok too. I mean no pressure. So what do you say?"  
  
Sara looked at him a bit perplexed for a moment and then started laughing. "Greg, was there a question in there somewhere?"  
  
Greg looked slightly embarrassed. "Uh, sorry. I was just wondering if you would go out with me sometime."  
  
Sara wrinkled her brow. "Greg, you're a great guy, but I'm just not interested in you like that, you're not really my type."  
  
Greg looked somewhat deflated. "You can't blame a guy for trying."  
  
Nick pulled himself out of the pool, feel much cooler in more ways than one. He walked over to Greg and Sara and smiled. "Greg, my man, trying to put the swerve on Sara here?" He chuckled.  
  
Greg glanced up at Nick. "Uh, apparently, I'm not really Sara's type."  
  
Nick grinned. "No offense, man, but Warrick and I told you. Why don't you ask out the new lab tech, what's her name, Clarice?" He ran his fingers through his wet hair trying to rid himself of the extra moisture before picking up his towel and drying off.  
  
"Charise." Greg corrected him. "I was thinking about it, but I just haven't had a chance to demonstrate my witty charm to her yet."  
  
Sara bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. "I think I'm going to go see if Catherine wants a little help." She pulled herself up from the chair and glanced at Nick from head to toe, noting that things had returned to normal and smirking at him.  
  
He raised an eyebrow at her filled with meaning. "Hey, while you're at it, tell Warrick to get his ass out here so we can get the party started."  
  
Greg waved at Sara as she sauntered away. Mumbling under his breath Greg stared at Sara. "If she would just give me a chance, I could be the right man."  
  
Nick chuckled and gestured toward the pool. "Go cool off, man, there's a whole pool open."  
  
Greg glanced up and smiled. "So do you think you could put a good word in for me with Charise?"  
  
Nick shook his head. "I think you'd better ask Warrick. I don't think Charise likes me very much."  
  
Greg's eyebrows wrinkled. "Nick Stokes? Ladies man?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "Thanks to you, she thinks I did something to Sara."  
  
Greg looked sheepish. "Hey, I apologized for that. I just repeated what I heard. I had no idea you two were competing over something."  
  
Catherine, Warrick, and Sara emerged from the house bearing platters with hamburgers, veggie burgers, buns, and condiments. Warrick took up residence in front of the grill, and someone put some music on.  
  
No one was really sure who started it, but a game of stealth broke out where if you weren't paying attention, you'd get picked up and thrown into the pool. Soon everyone was dripping wet and having a great time. Sara stood next to Catherine talking when she felt a pair of muscular arms grab her around the waist and start dragging her toward the pool.  
  
"You're starting to look a little too dry, Sar." Nick's distinctive drawl purred in her ear.  
  
She tried to disengage herself from his arms and giggled as she fought to free herself. "I'm not going in the pool, Nick."  
  
"Oh, yes you are." He chuckled, taking another step toward the pool, pushing her along.  
  
The rest of the group just stood there and chuckled at the struggle going on between the two young and very competitive CSIs. If they were betting, their money would be on Sara.  
  
She managed to turn around in his grip and with her fingers splayed out across his chest, she started pushing back. "Oh, no I'm not."  
  
Nick waggled his eyebrows at her and gripped her waist a little tighter. He had the added advantage of knowing exactly where she was ticklish. His fingers lightly grazed her sides. He made it a few more steps closer to the pool. "Oh. Yes. You are."  
  
Sara fought the sensations that his touch was causing, deciding to try and return the favor as they neared the edge of the pool. She shook her head. "Uh uh." Her thumbs lightly caressed his chest as she pushed against him, causing his eyes to glaze slightly.  
  
He nodded, waggling his eyebrows at her. "Uh, huh." He took one more step towards the pool and began to push her away from him and towards the water.  
  
She shook her head and knowing that she was going in the pool, wrapped an arm around his neck and a leg around one of his. "You're coming with me." She clung to Nick, pulling him along with her, as he couldn't stop his momentum to throw her in and they fell into the water together in a tangle of arms and legs.  
  
As they surfaced they could hear the rest of the group laughing. Nick got a devilish look on his face. "You're asking for it, Sidle."  
  
She grinned at him mischievously, "Me? I think you're the one who's asking for it, Stokes."  
  
Nick went after Sara, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her under. She wrestled away and surfaced for air, turning around and putting an arm around his throat. Nick reached behind him, trying to pull her off, and dove under until she let go. Thinking he had won, he tread water and grinned. The expression on his face changed dramatically as he felt Sara's hands on his waist from behind and the sensation of his swim trunks being pulled off.  
  
Sara was grinning as she pulled herself out of the pool, with Nick's swim trunks in hand. She glanced back at him with a smug expression. "I'd say I won."  
  
Nick's face was turning a beautiful shade of pink as he swam over to the side of the pool. "Uh, Sara, there are children present, can I have my shorts back?"  
  
She was trying to restrain her laughter even as the rest of the CSIs were doubled over in laughter. "It's gonna cost you."  
  
"That's blackmail, Sidle." Nick was seriously contemplating flashing everyone so he could get out and grab a towel.  
  
Sara glanced at the rest of the team. "What do you think I should make him do for me?"  
  
Warrick deadpanned. "Well, I'd say the strip tease is out since you took care of that for him."  
  
Sara blushed slightly even as she grinned, glancing at the swim trunks in her hand.  
  
Greg came and stood next to Sara. "Maybe you should have Nick clean your house."  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow. "Greg, I'm a neat freak."  
  
Greg chuckled. "Oh."  
  
Catherine had an amused grin on her face as she glanced at Sara. "You could make him take all your decomps."  
  
Grissom had a smirk on his face and glanced at Sara. "Uh, Sara, in the interest of all the kids over there, maybe you should give Nicky his shorts back."  
  
She shook her head. "No, I want the terms of his surrender before he gets out of the water."  
  
Nick had a pleading look on his face. "Sara, can I please have my swim trunks back?"  
  
Warrick let out a deep chuckle. "Nick, man, you better come up with an idea or she may not let you out of there."  
  
Catherine glanced over at Sara and smirked. "Should I take the girls inside? I mean if this is going to take a while, I don't want Nick flashing them."  
  
Sara had to bite her lip to stop laughing.  
  
Greg waggled his eyebrows at Sara. "What would you make me do if I pushed you in the pool?"  
  
"Greg!" Grissom chided.  
  
Greg looked over at Grissom and his cheesy grin evaporated. "Uh, yeah, Grissom?"  
  
Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you and I take the girls inside."  
  
Catherine and Warrick exchanged a glance and chuckled softly.  
  
Sara's expression challenged Nick as Grissom and Greg disappeared inside the house with Lindsey and her friends.  
  
"Sara." Nick flashed her a puppy dog expression. "Can I please have my shorts back?"  
  
"I don't know, Nick. You pushed me in the pool and I didn't want to get wet." Sara was having far too much fun with this.  
  
"You're asking for it." Nick challenged.  
  
"Uh, I don't see you being in the position to bargain, Stokes." Sara responded.  
  
Warrick and Catherine tried to contain their laughter.  
  
Nick swam over to the far end of the pool and climbed out, his backside as bare as the day he was born.  
  
"Nice ass, Nicky." Catherine yelled.  
  
He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself before he turned around and began walking over toward Sara, a wide grin etched on his face.  
  
"Now, Ms. Sidle, may I please have my shorts?" He stood inches from Sara holding the towel around his waist.  
  
Sara smirked and held them just out of his reach. "You mean these shorts?"  
  
He nodded and reached for them.  
  
Catherine and Warrick looked extremely amused.  
  
Sara shook her head. "Uh, uh."  
  
Nick raised a single eyebrow and stepped toward her. "No?"  
  
She shook her head again. "No."  
  
Nick grabbed her around the waist with one arm, holding his towel in place with the other and pulled her up against him grinning. "Please."  
  
She shook her head. "Nope." She held the swim trunks behind her, her amusement clearly etched on her face.  
  
He raised an eyebrow in warning at her. "Sara."  
  
Sara tried to constrain her laughter as she tossed his swim trunks back into the pool. "There you go."  
  
Nick let go of her and stepped back toward the pool. "You're going to pay for that, Sidle." He faced the pool and dropped his towel as he dove back into the pool to retrieve his swim trunks. He captured them and shimmied them on before climbing back out, tightening the draw string firmly.  
  
As Nick approached Sara, Warrick, and Catherine, Sara glanced over at Catherine and then raised an eyebrow at Nick. "Catherine's right, you've got a nice ass, Nick."  
  
Warrick just shook his head and rolled his eyes. "If you ladies are done ogling Nick, I'll go let Grissom and Greg know it's safe to let the girls come back out."  
  
Catherine couldn't restrain her laughter as she turned to follow Warrick. "I'll come with you."  
  
Nick grinned at Sara and waggled his eyebrows as Catherine and Warrick disappeared into the house. "If you wanted to see me naked, Sara, all you had to do was ask." 


	8. Bribed

Despite the smile on Sara's face, her cheeks were a little red after Nick's last comment. She still had the image of Nick's bare butt fresh in her mind, and as much as she wanted to see more of him, she knew that this wasn't the time or the place for it. "Nick."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at her and tried to gauge her response to his cheeky comment.  
  
She smirked at him. "Maybe we can discuss that a little later."  
  
He grinned and was about to say something else when the back door opened and Catherine emerged. She was on the phone and didn't look too pleased. "Well, I've got a house full of ten year old girls and I have to work tonight. I'm not sure what I'm going to do." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, I can't get someone to cover; I'm the primary on this case. Ok, I'll call you. No, I understand, I don't want you over here either if you have the flu." She hung up the phone and glanced over to where Nick and Sara stood by the edge of the pool talking. An idea formed in her mind as she approached them. "So, I take it you've formed some sort of truce."  
  
Nick glanced at her and flashed a grin. "Something like that. She doesn't take my shorts; I don't throw her in the pool."  
  
Sara smiled smugly.  
  
Catherine smiled. "Uh, hey, I know you both are off the calendar tonight, I've got a little problem."  
  
Nick and Sara exchanged a glance. They wanted to spend time alone together and didn't want anything to interrupt that, not that they could share that with Catherine.  
  
"My sister has the flu and she was supposed to watch all the girls tonight for Lindsey's slumber party. I've got the MacClachlan case to work on so I can't miss work." She gave both Nick and Sara a pleading expression. "Would one of you be interested in staying here with the girls? I'll owe you big time."  
  
The words started coming out of Sara's mouth before she even started thinking. "I'll do it, Cath. How hard can it be?"  
  
Nick started laughing.  
  
Sara glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "What's so funny?"  
  
"Sara, when was the last time you were around a group of ten year old girls?" Nick looked amused.  
  
Sara tilted her head. "Uh, when I was ten."  
  
Catherine didn't say a word; she just bit her lip to keep from laughing.  
  
"My point exactly." Nick raised both eyebrows at her.  
  
Sara challenged Nick with her expression. "I don't see what the big deal is. I can handle it." She turned toward Catherine and smiled. "Don't worry about a thing."  
  
"Ok. Uh, if there are any problems, you know the number." Catherine replied.  
  
"There won't be any problems because I'm going to stay too." Nick chimed in.  
  
Catherine and Sara both looked at him with surprise.  
  
Nick crossed his arms in front of his body and looked at both ladies with some amusement. "I have sixteen nieces and nephews. I have a little more experience with kids than you do, Sara."  
  
Sara chuckled. "Ok, you're on. I still say it can't be that hard."  
  
Catherine rolled her eyes and smiled. "Ok, then, I've got a bunch of movies for them to watch and just try and not let them drink too much soda." Catherine headed back towards the house.  
  
Sara wrinkled her brow for a moment. "Uh, what time is bedtime?"  
  
Catherine turned around and started laughing. "Sara, did you ever go to a slumber party when you were a kid?"  
  
Sara shook her head.  
  
Nick leaned over and whispered in her ear loud enough for Catherine to hear. "They don't sleep at slumber parties."  
  
Sara looked at him a bit perplexed. "Then why do they call them slumber parties in the first place?"  
  
Nick glanced at Catherine and exchanged an amused glance.  
  
"Uh, Lindsey is going to open presents if you guys want to come in now." Catherine looked thoroughly amused and wished she could be a fly on the wall in her own house to see Sara trying to watch five ten-year old girls. At least she had Nick as back up; otherwise Catherine didn't think Sara would have a fighting chance.  
  
After the rest of the team had gone to work, Nick and Sara got Lindsey and her friends settled in front of the TV with a large bowl of popcorn so they could watch a movie. Sara had changed out of her swimsuit and into a pair of pair of denim shorts and a fitted printed T-shirt. Nick had traded his swim trunks for a pair of khaki shorts and a short sleeved blue button down shirt. The girls were all in their pajamas and an array of sleeping bags was spread out over the living room floor.  
  
Sara stood in the entry way to the living room with a smug look on her face. She glanced over at Nick who stood next to her. "See, this isn't that hard."  
  
Nick chuckled. "It's early yet, Sara."  
  
A devilish grin crossed Sara's face. "Uh, why don't we go in the kitchen and let them have a little privacy." She reached over and took his hand, lacing her fingers with his.  
  
Nick looked amused. "You mean why don't we get a little privacy."  
  
She grinned. "It's all a matter of perception, Nick."  
  
Nick pulled his hand away from Sara's for a moment. "Hey, Linds, we're going to be in the kitchen if you guys need anything."  
  
Lindsey looked up at Nick and Sara and grinned. "Ok." Her friends smiled as well. They had been giggling over how attractive Nick was.  
  
As soon as they had rounded the corner into the kitchen, a grinning Nick took Sara's hand and pulled her toward him. He leaned down and kissed her long and deep, tangling his fingers in her hair.  
  
Sara's hands slid up his chest and around his neck.  
  
As they pulled their lips away from each other, Nick chuckled softly. "I've wanted to do that all day." He trailed his fingers down her cheek as he caressed it.  
  
"Me too." Sara smiled at him and then leaned up and pressed her lips to his again.  
  
They stood there between the fridge and the counter exchanging soft, slow, deep kisses for a long time. Nick rested his hands on her waist, his fingers caressing her sides.  
  
Sara's fingers slowly caressed the nape of his neck. After a while, Sara pulled away slightly and murmured; her lips were still a fraction of an inch from his and her eyelids heavy. "We should probably go check on Lindsey and her friends."  
  
Nick nodded in agreement, but didn't let her out of his embrace. "Yeah, before they check on us." He leaned over and kissed her again savoring the softness of her lips against his.  
  
They finally pulled apart reluctantly and headed back out into the living room. The movie was just ending. "You guys ready for another one?" Sara queried them.  
  
Lindsey looked up and grinned. "Yeah."  
  
"Ok, which one?" Nick asked, grinning at the gaggle of little girls.  
  
The girls settled on a movie and while Nick put it into the DVD player, Sara refilled their bowl of popcorn.  
  
After the movie had started, Nick and Sara drifted back to the kitchen. Sara pulled a couple of sodas out of the fridge and handed one to Nick. He grinned at her and leaned over and softly kissed her before he opened the soda and took a sip. Sara leaned back against the counter and studied Nick for a moment, tilting her head to the side. "You know, if one of them catches us, we're going to have a lot of explaining to do to Catherine."  
  
Nick raised his eyebrow flirtatiously. "Well, they're not going to catch us, they're watching a movie." He stepped toward her and pinned her against the counter. He set his soda down and then took hers out of her hand and put it next to his before resting his hands on counter on either side of her.  
  
Sara giggled. "You seem to have this planned out." She splayed her hands against his chest as she watched his eyes.  
  
Nick nodded, grinning. "Yeah, I do." He leaned toward her and pressed his lips against hers, slowly tasting and teasing them. He felt Sara's lips part and he slid his tongue past hers as he began to explore her mouth slowly.  
  
As the kiss intensified, his hands slowly slid up the back of her shirt. Sara moaned softly into his mouth, sliding her arms around his waist underneath the fabric of his shirt. Nick's fingers lightly caressed her skin as he trailed his fingers up and down her back. They became lost in the kiss and the sensation of touching each other.  
  
They were brought sharply back to reality when a group of ten year old voices interrupted them. "Nick and Sara are kissing!"  
  
They pulled apart quickly, trying to act natural. Nick hastily pulled his hands out from underneath Sara's shirt and ran his fingers through his hair.  
  
Sara smoothed out her shirt and tried to catch her breath. "Uh, what can I do for you guys?"  
  
Lindsey studied them for a moment. "We didn't like our movie."  
  
"I caught my brother doing that once, he was in so much trouble when I told my mom." Lindsey's friend Kayla giggled.  
  
"This is better than that 'Spy Kids' movie." Grinned a precocious Chelsea.  
  
"Are you guys getting married?" Kelsey wanted to know.  
  
Lindsey regarded Nick and Sara with a shrewdness similar to her mother. "My mom doesn't know about this does she?"  
  
"Now, Lindsey, this isn't what it looks like." Nick began hoping to con the ten year old.  
  
Lindsey rolled her eyes. "Nick, I wasn't born yesterday. I know what kissing looks like."  
  
Lindsey's friend Mollie just smiled as she watched the scenario unfold.  
  
Sara chuckled in spite of herself and decided to try another tactic. "Uh, Lindsey, your mom doesn't need to know about this. This is between Nick and I."  
  
Lindsey flashed her a smile similar to those Catherine reserved for interrogating suspects. "Are you going to bribe us?"  
  
Sara gave Nick a panicked look.  
  
Nick smiled at Lindsey. "I'm sure we can work something out, if you promise not to say a word."  
  
Lindsey raised a single eyebrow. "It's gonna cost you."  
  
Nick crossed his arms in front of his body and raised his eyebrow at her in return. "What did you have in mind, Linds?"  
  
"Pizza. The good kind." She began. Her friends were all grins as they stood behind Lindsey. "And ice cream. Mint chocolate chip."  
  
"Is that all?" Nick queried them like a pro.  
  
Lindsey glanced back at her friends to see if they had anything to add. A bunch of whispers ensued. Lindsey turned back toward Nick. "We want to see the new Lara Croft movie."  
  
"But that isn't one of the ones your mom rented." Sara interjected hoping the stem the tide.  
  
Nick glanced at Sara for a moment before turning back to Lindsey. "Ok, I'll go rent it. Is that it?"  
  
Lindsey nodded. "Yeah, that'll do."  
  
"You do realize once we shake on this, you promise not to say a word to your mom or anyone else." Nick leveled a serious gaze at the girls.  
  
She nodded and then glanced back at her friends; they nodded. "Ok, deal." Lindsey stuck out her hand and she and Nick shook on it.  
  
Sara just stood there with her jaw agape.  
  
Nick chuckled as he looked at her. "Why don't you get the pizza ordered and I'll go pick up the movie and the ice cream."  
  
Sara nodded and wrinkled her brow at him. "You're good."  
  
He grinned widely. "I'll be back in a while." He raised an eyebrow at Lindsey and her friends. "Go easy on Sara while I'm gone, ok."  
  
They nodded as he went to find his keys to go pick up the movie and ice cream. After Nick left, Sara ordered the pizza and as she hung up the phone, the girls started to pepper her with questions.  
  
"Nick is cute isn't he?" Chelsea grinned.  
  
Sara couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, he is."  
  
"Is he your boyfriend?" Kelsey giggled.  
  
Sara nodded. "Yes, he is." Then a panicked thought crossed her mind and she looked at all the girls. "But that's a secret right now, understand?"  
  
They nodded.  
  
Lindsey piped up. "That's why we're getting pizza and ice cream."  
  
Sara smirked at her.  
  
"Are you going to marry him?" Mollie asked with wide eyes.  
  
Sara swallowed hard. "Uh, I don't know."  
  
"Why?" Mollie continued.  
  
"Uh, people date each other to see if they like each other enough. I mean you have to fall in love, and then if you both decide you want to, then you talk about getting married, maybe." Sara fumbled over her answer.  
  
Chelsea giggled. "Are you in love with him?"  
  
Sara turned pink. She didn't expect this kind of interrogation from a bunch of ten year olds. They were nothing like she was when she was their age. "Uh, I don't know yet."  
  
"Is he in love with you?" Kelsey was curious.  
  
Sara stuttered slightly. "I don't know."  
  
"Why don't you ask him?" Mollie seemed to think this was perfectly logical.  
  
"Uh, because you just don't ask a man if he's in love with you. If he's in love with you, he'll tell you." Sara was getting very uncomfortable and glanced at the clock hoping that Nick would come back soon and rescue her.  
  
Kayla asked the question they all wanted the answer to. "Is he a good kisser?"  
  
Sara grinned in spite of herself. "You're ten. Aren't you a little young to be asking questions like that?"  
  
They all shook their heads. The girls looked at her as if she was from another planet.  
  
Kayla was insistent. "So is he?"  
  
Sara turned a slightly deeper shade of pink. "I'm not going to answer that."  
  
Lindsey looked at the other girls as if she knew the answer. "He must be a good kisser; they were kissing long enough."  
  
The girls all broke out in giggles.  
  
Sara was at a loss for words and just stared at Lindsey open mouthed.  
  
Lindsey looked Sara directly in the eyes as she asked her next question. "Did you and Nick have sex yet?"  
  
Sara sputtered in disbelief. "Uh, that's none of your business, young lady. That's not the kind of question you ask people."  
  
"My mom gave me the sex talk right before my birthday, it sounds gross." Lindsey continued.  
  
Sara was relieved when the pizza was delivered. By the time she returned with the pizza boxes, the girls had moved the topic of conversation to nail polish.  
  
Nick finally returned a short time later with the ice cream, the movie, and a few other snacks for insurance.  
  
After eating their pizza and ice cream, the girls settled back in front of the TV for the Lara Croft movie Nick had rented. Nick and Sara remained in the kitchen, cleaning up the evidence of the bribe.  
  
Sara kept glancing over at Nick. "You are never leaving me alone with a room full of ten year olds again. Understand?"  
  
He grinned sheepishly. "What did they do?"  
  
"It was like the Spanish inquisition. They all wanted to know if you were a good kisser." Sara began.  
  
Nick chuckled and waggled his eyebrows at her. "What did you tell them?"  
  
Sara's eyebrows shot up. "Nick Stokes, when I was ten, I didn't give a flying leap about boys."  
  
Nick tried to restrain a grin. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me."  
  
She chuckled softly.  
  
"What else did they ask you?" Nick queried her.  
  
A flicker of embarrassment crossed her face as she met his gaze. "Uh, let's just say, the whole conversation was enlightening."  
  
"So, they were pretty hard on you then?" He looked mildly amused.  
  
Sara grinned. "You knew they would do that, didn't you?"  
  
Nick raised his eyebrows innocently. "Hey, I was on a mission to get a movie."  
  
She chuckled at him and stepped toward him, sliding her hands up his chest so she could wrap her arms around his neck. "So, now that they know and they've been sworn to secrecy, how safe do you think we are?"  
  
Nick wrapped his arms around her waist and smiled at her softly. "Oh, I'm pretty sure Lindsey won't say a word, and by the time we get tired of paying her blackmail, let's hope we've gone public."  
  
Sara looked at him perplexed. "Blackmail?"  
  
Nick nodded. "The kid knows a good thing when she sees it; I wouldn't put it past her unless Catherine gets suspicious."  
  
"You know, it's awfully quiet in the living room." Sara suddenly realized.  
  
Nick released her from his embrace and they quietly walked into the living room where five ten-year old con artists were fast asleep in front of the TV. 


	9. Risky

Nick and Sara wandered back into the kitchen and grabbed their sodas before heading outside to sit by the pool and talk while the girls slept in the living room.  
  
Sara studied Nick with an amused expression on her face.  
  
He raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. "Just what are you thinking, Sara Sidle?"  
  
She chuckled. "Oh, I was just thinking that I wish I could have seen the expression on your face when you discovered your shorts were missing in the pool."  
  
He chuckled and grinned at her. "Like I said, if you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was ask." He leaned back into his chair and took a long sip from his soda.  
  
Sara smirked at him. "Well, I'm afraid if I had you strip for me now, one of the girls might wake up and be scarred for life."  
  
"I'm sure they'll be asleep for hours." He grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows.  
  
Sara giggled. "Nick, you also said they were watching a movie and look where that got us. We've been blackmailed by a group of ten year olds."  
  
He took a sip from his soda. "I'd say it was worth it."  
  
Sara raised her eyebrow and pursed her lips. "So, are you saying you want to strip for me?" Her voice had a teasing tone in it.  
  
He grinned. "Only if you want me to."  
  
She glanced at the house next door which seemed impossibly close to Catherine's backyard. "What about the neighbors?"  
  
"All their windows are facing away from us." He replied nonchalantly as he studied her, taking note of the way her shirt hugged her figure.  
  
Sara bit her lip for a moment. "But, the girls might wake up."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Sara, we don't have to get naked."  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "We?"  
  
Nick waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."  
  
"I've already seen half of yours." Sara laughed in spite of herself.  
  
He smiled at her. "You seemed to like what you saw."  
  
Sara tried to suppress her grin as she recalled the nice view she had of his bare butt. "Nick, you sound like a horny teenager."  
  
He laughed. "I may not be a teenager, but I am horny."  
  
"Catherine would kill us." She looked him in the eyes.  
  
"Even Catherine would leave evidence behind." Nick couldn't wipe the grin off of his face.  
  
Sara took a long sip from her soda and then leaned back in her chair. "You do have a nice ass."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Glad you like it." He glanced at her curiously. "So, why did you steal my swim trunks anyway?"  
  
She chuckled. "I wanted to win."  
  
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I think it ended in a draw."  
  
She shook her head. "Nope. I still think I won."  
  
He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And just why do you say that, Ms. Sidle? I did get my swim trunks back without you blackmailing me."  
  
She stopped her soda can just shy of her lips and smiled coyly. "I got to see a piece of that fine Texas ass of yours."  
  
Nick couldn't help but laugh. "Do you have any idea how much I'd like to see you naked?"  
  
Sara grinned as color flushed her face. She wasn't sure what to say to Nick's comment, and thankfully, her cell phone rang. Nick waggled his eyebrows at her and took another sip of his soda as Sara answered her phone. "Sidle." She glanced up at Nick and smirked at him. "Hey, Cath. No everything is fine. They all fell asleep in front of the TV and Nick and I are just sitting out by the pool talking." She listened to Catherine for a few moments. "Ok, so Lindsey is going over to Kelsey's then?" She glanced at Nick and smiled. "Ok, yeah, that should be fine. I make a mean blueberry pancake." She chuckled softly and grinned at Nick. "Yeah, they did. Uh, huh. Really? Kelsey's mom? Well, I warn him then. Ok, we'll see you in the morning."  
  
She ended the call with Catherine and chuckled at Nick. "Catherine wanted to warn you about Kelsey's mom. She's looking for a man." Sara looked amused.  
  
An embarrassed grin flashed across Nick's face. "She must be pretty desperate for Catherine to warn me. Do you have any idea how many blind dates Catherine's tried to set me up on?"  
  
Sara giggled. "Well, no more blind dates for you. At least for a while."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence that I'm a keeper." There was a hint of teasing in his voice.  
  
Sara stood up and offered her hand to him. "C'mon, let's go back inside. We should probably check on the girls."  
  
Nick took her hand and followed her back into the house, shutting the slider door behind him before softly making their way into the living room. The girls were all still asleep and it was clear that the movie was over. Nick walked over and turned the TV and DVD player off. As he made his way back to Sara, he whispered. "I think it's a good bet that they are out for the rest of the night."  
  
They made their way back into the kitchen and Nick grinned at Sara. "Ok, we checked on the girls, what do you want to do now?"  
  
Sara had an amused expression on her face. "What did you have in mind?"  
  
He stepped closer to her and snaked his arms around her waist as he whispered into her ear. "Ever been skinny dipping?"  
  
Sara started to giggle. "You just don't give up do you?"  
  
Nick feigned innocence as he pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Whatever do you mean, Ms. Sidle?"  
  
Her voice was husky. "You want to see me naked." She leaned up and kissed him softly. As she pulled away, she whispered. "But you and I both know that if we get naked, we're mostly likely not going to be just swimming."  
  
Nick pressed the issue with a mischievous grin on his face. "You don't think we could get in the pool naked together and not have sex?"  
  
Sara couldn't help but giggle. "No, Nick, I sure as hell don't think we could get into that pool together naked and not have sex."  
  
"Why not?" Nick sounded like a little boy that was begging for a puppy for Christmas.  
  
Sara shook her head and stepped out of his embrace. "You are priceless, you know that don't you?"  
  
Nick chuckled in spite of himself. "I'm just horny as hell, Sara, and I want you in the worst way right now, whether or not there are five ten year olds in the next room."  
  
Sara regarded him for a moment. "I can tell." There was the beginning of a telltale bulge in his pants.  
  
Nick glanced away from her, with frustration etched on his face. "I'm sorry."  
  
Sara stepped toward him and put her hand on his arm. "Nick, don't be sorry. I'm just afraid of getting caught."  
  
He glanced at her, a bit of surprise on his face. "So, what are you saying, then?"  
  
She tilted her head and smiled at him. "Did you miss the part where I said if we were both in that pool I was pretty damn certain we'd be having sex?"  
  
He nodded a bit perplexed. "I just wasn't sure what you meant by that."  
  
She giggled and reached over to trail her fingers down his arm. "Nick Stokes, you are dense as hell sometimes."  
  
He didn't know whether to be insulted or be confused.  
  
She stepped a little closer to him and slid her arms up his chest and around his neck, her lips hovered a fraction of an inch from his. "I'm just as horny as you are, baby."  
  
Nick didn't move for fear the situation in his shorts would get worse. Instead, he gritted his teeth as he said her name. "Sara."  
  
She raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "You do realize if we get caught we'll have hell to pay, it is a little different than just kissing in the kitchen."  
  
The situation in Nick's shorts was definitely getting worse. "Sara?" He had a slightly panicked edge to his voice.  
  
She leaned up and kissed him softly and as she pulled away she smiled. "I'll go grab a couple of towels and meet you outside."  
  
Nick groaned in anticipation. "Sara."  
  
She trailed her fingers down his chest and looked at him with a sultry expression before heading down the hall to get a couple of large towels out of Catherine's linen closet. When she walked outside, she noticed Nick sitting on one of the chairs. She glanced at him quizzically. "Are you going to join me?"  
  
He had a serious expression on his face. "Are you sure about this, Sar? I meant it when I said I don't want to make you do anything you're not ready for."  
  
She smiled at him and didn't say a word. She simply pulled her T-shirt over her head and tossed it on the chair nearest to the pool. She then unzipped her shorts and stepped out of them, putting them next to her shirt. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Coming?"  
  
He just nodded and stood up beginning to unbutton his shirt, tossing it on the chair behind him. He glanced up and noticed that Sara faced the pool and she'd taken her bra off and was removing her panties. He stood there mesmerized at her figure in the moonlight.  
  
She glanced over his shoulder and flashed a smile at him. "You're a little behind there, Stokes."  
  
Nick finally found his words. "I'm just looking at your behind, darling. You have a cute little ass." He grinned at her as he quickly shed his shorts and boxers in one swift move. He walked toward the pool and dove in, surfacing just as she dove in.  
  
She surfaced near him and quickly found herself pulled into his embrace.  
  
Nick's lips descended on hers and they lost themselves in the kiss momentarily as they sank beneath the surface of the water. They finally let go of each other so they could return to the surface for air. Nick raised an eyebrow at her. "Why don't we go to the other side of the pool where the water is shallow."  
  
"Race you." Sara began to swim furiously for the other end of the pool.  
  
Nick caught up with her about halfway across and grabbed her by the waist.  
  
She giggled. "You play dirty."  
  
He waggled his eyebrows at her as he stood on the bottom of the pool and pulled her against him. "Well my thoughts about you right now are incredibly dirty."  
  
As Nick leaned in to kiss Sara, they heard a voice coming from the house. "Sara? Nick?"  
  
The broke apart, with panic on their faces. Sara swam to the edge of the pool and pulled herself against it to hide her state of undress. Chelsea was standing there in the darkness. "Yeah, sweetie?"  
  
"I've got a problem." Chelsea sounded upset and nervous.  
  
Nick had joined Sara at the side of the pool. "What is it, honey?"  
  
"I'm, I mean, I, went to the bathroom and something's wrong with me." She was on the verge of tears.  
  
"Uh, Chelsea?" Sara began.  
  
"Yeah?" There was a hitch in the girl's voice.  
  
"Why don't you go back inside and wait for me in the bathroom. It's going to be ok, honey." Sara suggested.  
  
"Ok." Chelsea sniffled and then closed the sliding door.  
  
When Nick and Sara were relatively certain that she was out of view, they pulled themselves out of the pool and wrapped towels around themselves.  
  
Sara didn't dare look at Nick as she quickly dried herself off and got dressed. He did the same and as they made their way into the house, they found Chelsea in the hallway with tears running down her cheeks. Sara pulled her into a hug and led her into the bathroom, motioning to Nick to go wait in the kitchen.  
  
She returned a few minutes later with a smirk on her face. "I need you to go to the store."  
  
Nick looked at her quizzically.  
  
Sara smiled. "Let's just say that womanhood has hit full force and she hadn't had 'the talk' yet so she didn't have a clue what it was."  
  
Nick raised his eyebrows. "I bet it scared the hell out of her."  
  
"That's an understatement." She wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Nick, narrowing her gaze at him. "Trust me, brand names are important for things like this."  
  
He chuckled and raised a hand. "Ok, I'll follow it to the letter." He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. "I'll be back shortly."  
  
Sara returned to the bathroom and let Chelsea know that help was on the way. "If you want me to, Chelsea, I'll talk to your mom and let her know what's going on so you don't have to. I remember when I got mine, it scared me half to death."  
  
Chelsea smiled at Sara through her tears. "Thanks, Sara."  
  
"You want me to stay here with you, or do you want me to go out there until Nick comes back?" Sara wanted to be sensitive to how this little girl in the midst of a huge life change was feeling.  
  
Chelsea shyly smiled at Sara. "Could you stay with me?"  
  
Sara nodded and sat down on the floor, trying to keep the mood light as they waited for Nick to return. Thankfully, he wasn't gone long and a soft knock sounded at the bathroom door. "Sar?"  
  
Sara cracked the door slightly as Nick handed her the bag. She grinned at him. "Thanks, baby."  
  
He winked at her as she closed the door.  
  
Sara got Chelsea situated and then the young girl made her way back to her sleeping bag. Sara went back into the kitchen and as Nick looked up, she smiled. "Thanks."  
  
He smiled back at her. "I have sisters and nieces. That actually happened to one of my nieces when some of my family was out visiting a couple of years ago. She though she was going to die."  
  
Sara chuckled softly. "I thought I was too, when I got my period the first time."  
  
Nick wrinkled his brow. "Don't mom's talk to their daughters about stuff like that?"  
  
Sara smirked. "If they did, do you think we would be having this conversation?"  
  
Nick glanced out at the pool and then back at Sara, waggling his eyebrows at her.  
  
She chuckled and shook her head. "We are not trying that again."  
  
He grinned. "Oh, and why not, Sara?"  
  
She swatted at him raising an eyebrow. "I sure as hell hope you like Scrabble, because that is the only game we're going to be playing until it's time to go home."  
  
Nick chuckled. "You're in serious trouble if you plan on playing Scrabble with me, Sidle."  
  
She smirked at him. "We are not playing strip Scrabble, Nick."  
  
He grinned. "You're taking all the fun out of it, Sar."  
  
She waggled her eyebrows at him. "Trust me, Nick, you'll have plenty of opportunity to get me naked and have your way with me, it's just not going to be tonight. That was a little too close for comfort."  
  
He feigned a hurt expression. "I kind of enjoyed being close to you."  
  
She swatted at him with a grin on her face. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." She left the kitchen in search of a board game and when she returned Nick had pulled out the leftover pizza and a couple of sodas. They settled in, seated on opposite sides of the table until the girls woke up for breakfast. 


	10. Tired

Sara was dead tired by the time she left Catherine's that morning. Between being blackmailed by a group of ten year olds, almost getting caught skinny dipping with Nick, dealing with Chelsea's new womanhood, and making breakfast for sleep deprived juvenile con artists, her night had been full. Of course, in the midst of all of that, Nick was still trying to make out with her in every corner of Catherine's house.  
  
Nick was tired too, however, he was still extremely horny. What with having Sara deprive him of his swim trunks in front of everyone, kiss him insatiably all over Catherine's house, surprise him by getting naked with him in the pool, and just looking irresistible, his hormones were in overdrive. As much as his body needed sleep, it wanted Sara more. He had been extremely disappointed in the conversation they'd had after they left Catherine's house.  
  
Nick had ridden with Warrick over to Catherine's for the pool party and barbecue so Sara was taking him home. As he climbed into Sara's Denali with her, he was hopeful that she would just take him home with her and they could pick up where they'd been interrupted several times that night. He'd reached over and began caressing Sara's thigh when she shot him a withering glance. His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he removed his hand from her leg. "What?"  
  
Sara let out a deep breath and measured her words carefully. "Nick, I'm tired. I want to go home and go to sleep."  
  
He looked at her longingly. "I like sleeping."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Alone."  
  
"Sara." There was a hint of pleading and a hint of annoyance in his voice.  
  
She glanced over at him as she drove. "Look, I've just been blackmailed, was almost caught trying to get it on with you in the pool, and managed to live through a slumber party. I'm tired. I want to go home and go to sleep. The mood for sex was killed somewhere in Catherine's pool."  
  
Nick didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure if she was upset with him. He studied her for a few moments. "Are you mad at me, Sar?"  
  
She glanced at him again and reached over and took his hand. "No, Nick, I'm not mad, I'm tired."  
  
"Can I just sleep with you, without sex?" Nick looked pathetic.  
  
Sara started to giggle. "Is that like just swimming naked, Nick?"  
  
Nick tried to stifle the grin on his face. "Ok, so I just want to be with you, Sara."  
  
"I know, but I don't want to be too tired to enjoy something I'm looking forward to this much." She smiled at him softly. "And as much as I want to be with you, I need to sleep."  
  
He chuckled. "Ok, I give up."  
  
She raised an amused eyebrow. "Good." She shook her head in amusement as she pulled into Nick's driveway. "I'll see you tonight. At work."  
  
He leaned over and kissed her softly. "Ok, get lots of sleep."  
  
Sara giggled against his lips. "You are priceless."  
  
He pulled away and raised an eyebrow at her responding dryly. "Really? Why?"  
  
Sara smirked. "All you think about is sex."  
  
He grinned flirtatiously at her. "No, all I think about is wanting to have sex with you."  
  
She leaned in and kissed him again. As she pulled away she grinned. "We'll get there soon enough."  
  
Nick let out a groan. "Not soon enough for me." He leaned in and kissed her again.  
  
Sara pulled away, placing her fingers against his lips and raising her eyebrow. "Soon. I promise." She leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. "Now go. I need to get some sleep."  
  
Reluctantly, Nick pulled himself out of Sara's Denali and waved as she backed out of his driveway and headed home. He went inside and grabbed a beer out of the fridge before sitting on the couch and turning on the TV for a little bit of a distraction. At that hour, nothing was on that really interested Nick, and after flipping through the channels a few times, he finally clicked it off.  
  
He glanced at the clock and picked up the phone, deciding that he would give his mom a call in Dallas. He spent about a half an hour on the phone with her catching up on what his family was doing and by the time he hung up, he wasn't feeling quite as keyed up as he was before.  
  
He reached for his beer and just as he was about to take a swig he heard a knock at his door. A grin spread across his face as he anticipated seeing Sara on the other side of it.  
  
As he opened the door, he chuckled. "You changed your mind." It took him a moment to register that it wasn't Sara standing on his porch. "Uh, Sheila, how did you know where I live?" Standing before him was Kelsey's mom Sheila with Kelsey and Lindsey in tow and shock was written all over Nick's face.  
  
"A little bird told me your last name and I found you in the phone book." She chirped as she glanced at Lindsey.  
  
Sheila had made obvious signals to Nick that she'd found him attractive when she came by to pick up Kelsey and Lindsey. In fact, her signals were so obvious that they could have probably been seen from the moon. She had taken one look at Nick and a perma-grin installed itself on her face as she tried one thing after another to get his attention. She wasn't even subtle, and Sara was no help, as she had found the scenario entirely amusing as Sheila had thrown herself at Nick. She had commented to Nick about how she was single too and they should get together sometime. Nick replied that he worked a lot. Sheila wasn't deterred. She kept finding reasons to touch Nick, which made him entirely uncomfortable. When Kelsey and Lindsey were getting their things together, Nick was left alone in the living room with Sheila for a moment and she took the opportunity to comment on how fine his ass was, and she wondered aloud if the rest of him was equally delectable. Normally unflappable Nick was horrified and he told Sara later that he felt like a piece of meat at the grocery store. Sara had found that amusing.  
  
Nick glanced at Lindsey with a raised eyebrow. "Lindsey?"  
  
Lindsey feigned innocence. "She said she forgot to ask you something."  
  
"Really?" Nick answered dryly as his gaze returned to Sheila.  
  
"Girls, why don't you wait in the car. I need to talk to Mr. Stokes here alone." The girls followed her instructions and returned to the car to wait for her.  
  
Nick's jaw clenched as he regarded Sheila. "You know, I thought I made it pretty clear where I was coming from earlier."  
  
She mistook that for encouragement and reached out and began to finger the buttons on Nick's shirt, a seductive smile on her lips. "I was just thinking." She stepped a little closer. "You're single. I'm single. We could have some fun."  
  
Nick narrowed his gaze at this woman who by all standards was attractive, but extremely desperate. "Sheila, I'm not sure how to say this nicely, since you're not getting the hint. I'm not interested in you."  
  
She tilted her head slightly and a coy smile played at her lips. "That's only because you don't know me."  
  
Nick couldn't believe the outright pushiness of this woman. "Uh, excuse me?"  
  
She smiled and stepped a little closer to Nick and trailed her fingers down his chest as she looked into his eyes. "If you knew me, you'd be interested." To emphasize her point, she groped him.  
  
Anger and shock flashed across Nick's face as he quickly stepped back. "Lady, I don't know who you think you are, but if you knew me, you'd know I'm not interested in you. I happen to have a girlfriend. I don't mean to be rude, but I need to go." With that he shut and locked his door, shaking his head in disbelief at what had just transpired.  
  
He walked over to the phone and dialed Sara's number hoping that she wasn't asleep yet.  
  
A sleepy voice answered. "Hello."  
  
"Sara." Nick began. "I'm sorry if I woke you up, babe."  
  
"No, I was just laying here with my eyes closed dreaming about you." There was a hint of amusement in her voice.  
  
He chuckled nervously. "I know you don't really want me over there right now, but I was just groped by Kelsey's mom, and I'm feeling a little violated right now."  
  
"Huh?" Sara sounded confused.  
  
Nick explained to her what had just transpired at the front door.  
  
"You poor baby." Her sympathy was sincere, even though she was trying not to laugh.  
  
"Can I please come over?" Nick begged.  
  
Sara giggled. "Are you afraid that she's going to come back?"  
  
"Yes, and you know how long it takes to get a restraining order." He was only half joking.  
  
Sara let out a deep sigh. "Ok, but you have to sleep. I'm too tired."  
  
"I'll call you when I'm at the door in case you fall back asleep." Nick replied sounding a little too happy.  
  
"Ok, but, Nick?" She wanted to get his attention.  
  
"Yeah, babe?" By the sound of his voice, he was grinning.  
  
"We're not having sex." She emphasized sleepily before she hung up.  
  
Despite Sara's admonishment, Nick was wide awake now. He grabbed his keys and a change of clothes before heading out the front door. Fortunately, Kelsey's mom Sheila had taken the hint and left, at least Nick didn't see her anywhere. He climbed into his Denali and headed toward Sara's. As he pulled in and reached for his phone so he could tell Sara he was there, he realized he'd left it somewhere. He grabbed his duffel bag and descended from the vehicle, heading for Sara's apartment.  
  
What Nick didn't realize was that as he pulled out of his driveway, Warrick was pulling up. Nick had left his cell phone in Warrick's Denali and since they had planned on going to the batting cages that morning, Warrick just figured he'd give it back to Nick then. Wondering where Nick was headed, Warrick followed. He was slightly amused when he saw Nick pull into Sara's apartment complex. His curiosity was piqued when Nick took a duffel bag with him and paused at Sara's door. He decided to just sit and watch for a while and see what was going on before he got out and gave Nick his cell phone back.  
  
Nick knocked on Sara's door and a few minutes later, a sleepy looking Sara clad in a tank top and pajama pants opened the door. "I thought you were going to call."  
  
He grinned at her as he stood in the doorway. "I'm sorry, I left my cell phone somewhere." He pulled her into a hug.  
  
Sara wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.  
  
As Warrick watched the kiss from his vehicle, a flicker of surprise flashed across his face. "Damn." He chuckled at this little revelation.  
  
Nick and Sara broke their kiss and Nick grinned at her. "You sure know how to make a guy feel welcome."  
  
"Mmm. I only welcome gorgeous men from Texas like that." She smiled at him and kissed him again.  
  
After a few moments, they broke the kiss. Nick looked amused. "Can I come in?"  
  
She smiled and stepped aside to let him in. "I'm tired."  
  
He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "I can tell." He set his bag down by the door.  
  
"Did she really grope you?" Sara looked at him with a raised eyebrow.  
  
Nick looked embarrassed. "Right on my doorstep with Lindsey and Kelsey in the car."  
  
"I could beat her up for you." Sara offered sleepily.  
  
Nick started laughing.  
  
"What?! I could kick her ass. I don't want her groping my man." Sara looked amused.  
  
Nick grinned at her. "I wouldn't mind if you groped me."  
  
Sara rolled her eyes.  
  
Nick raised his hands as if surrendering. "Ok, I'll drop it."  
  
She smiled and yawned, grabbed Nick's hand, and walked back to her bedroom with him in tow. As she began to crawl into bed, she swore under her breath.  
  
Nick looked at her with a worried expression. "What?"  
  
She glanced up at him and shook her head. "I just forgot that if I don't throw some clothes into the washer, I won't have anything to wear to work tonight."  
  
Nick mulled that thought over in his mind. "I wouldn't mind that." He dodged a pillow that Sara threw at him as he began to unbutton his shirt.  
  
She shot him a warning look. "Wrong line of work, Stokes. Get your mind out of the gutter." She pulled herself out of bed and went to go throw a load of laundry in the wash. While she was sorting her laundry, she noticed that she hadn't unloaded the dishwasher, so she quickly did that too. By the time she returned to her bedroom, about ten minutes had elapsed. Nick was asleep. His shirt and shorts had been discarded on the floor and when Sara pulled back the covers to crawl in next to him, she noticed that his boxers were decorated with little flags of Texas. She couldn't help but grin as she curled up next to him, kissed him softly on the forehead, and fell asleep.  
  
Warrick had waited for about fifteen minutes outside of Sara's apartment to see if Nick was going to come out. After witnessing their kiss and Nick's subsequent entrance into Sara's apartment, Warrick was doubtful Nick would be leaving anytime soon. His assumptions were confirmed when he saw the lights in Sara's apartment turn out. With an amused grin, he pulled out of Sara's apartment complex and headed home. He was going to have to find a way to use this little piece of information to make Nick and Sara squirm a little. 


	11. Conversations

Sara was still groggy when her alarm clock went off. She swatted toward the noise with her hand, hoping to hit the snooze button, finally achieving success after several tries. She snuggled her pillow closer and tried to savor the last few moments before wakefulness fully overtook her and her alarm went off again. She had almost fallen back asleep when she felt an arm pull her against a warm male body and a pair of lips began peppering her neck. She let out a yelp and almost bolted out of the bed before she realized it was Nick.  
  
She turned to face him and he looked at her curiously as she tried to get her heart rate under control. "Dammit, you scared the hell out of me."  
  
Nick looked slightly confused. "I'm sorry?"  
  
She started to laugh. "No, I'm sorry, baby. I forgot you were here. You startled me." She reached up and tussled his hair.  
  
He wrinkled his brow. "I worked very hard on my hair, and now you've gone and messed it up."  
  
She giggled. "Honey, I hate to be the one to tell you, but it was already messed up, but you're damn cute."  
  
He grinned leaning towards her. "I'm glad you think so."  
  
She ran her thumb over his lower lip. "I especially like the flags on your boxers, Cowboy."  
  
Nick chuckled with a wide grin on his face as he leaned down to kiss her. He ran his hand down her arm and rested it on her hip.  
  
Sara began to respond to his kiss and then suddenly stopped, uttering a choice curse word against his lips as her alarm went off again.  
  
A puzzled Nick pulled back with a hurt expression on his face.  
  
Sara pushed him away and sat up reaching over to turn off her alarm. "I'm sorry, Nick, but if I don't put my clothes in the dryer now I'm not going to have anything to wear to work." She stepped out of bed and glanced back at him raising an eyebrow in warning. "Don't even say it."  
  
He lay back and raised his hands, not saying a word. A mischievous grin spread across his face.  
  
She winked at him. "I'll be right back."  
  
Nick could hear the dryer door slam a few minutes later followed by the hum of it's engine and a thwacking sound he assumed was a button hitting the sides of the unit as the clothes tumbled around.  
  
Sara returned to the bedroom and crawled the entire length of the bed over the blankets before tugging them out from underneath her so she could crawl back under them.  
  
Nick tried to restrain an amused grin.  
  
She glanced at him and smiled. "What's so funny?" She slid herself under the blankets and lay back down facing Nick and hugged her pillow.  
  
He laughed. "You are."  
  
She wrinkled her nose. "Why do you say that?"  
  
"Well, you practically fly out of bed when I kissed your neck earlier. Then I kiss you again and you swear. Nice choice of curse words by the way. And rather than walk to the side of the bed to climb in you crawl over the blankets only to have to pull them out from underneath yourself. You are damn cute, Sidle." He grinned at her, clearly amused.  
  
She had a slightly embarrassed expression on her face. "I'm not used to people watching me when I wake up."  
  
Nick lay on his side smiling at Sara. "I liked watching you wake up."  
  
Sara let out a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh. "We have to get up soon."  
  
Nick glanced over at Sara's clock. "We have a little time." He leaned toward Sara, his fingers trailing up and down her arm and he leaned in a kissed her softly.  
  
As Sara pulled away she rolled her eyes. "Nick, we don't have time for what you've got in mind."  
  
"Why do you say that?" Nick had a slight pout on his face.  
  
She glanced at the clock and then back at him. "Trust me, you might enjoy it, but I know I wouldn't. What I have in mind is going to take a little more time than that."  
  
"You're killing me, Sidle." Nick leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.  
  
"You'll survive." She smiled back taking his hand in hers and lacing her fingers with his.  
  
They lay there for a while talking about nothing in particular.  
  
Finally, Nick noticed the time. He leaned over and kissed Sara on the forehead. As he pulled away he grinned. "I'm going to go take a shower."  
  
Sara grinned at him as she watched him and his Texas flag clad bottom head toward the bathroom.  
  
A few hours later, both CSIs were in the midst of another nightshift. Catherine and Sara had been called out to a jewelry store which appeared to have been robbed, but there was also quite a bit of blood at the scene and no body. Catherine and Sara chatted amiably as they processed the scene.  
  
"So you survived Lindsey and her friends." Catherine smiled at Sara.  
  
Sara was dusting the remains of the smashed counter for prints. "Yeah, although we had a few bumps along the way. Chelsea started her period and thought she was dying."  
  
Catherine wrinkled her brow with concern. "You should have called me, I had some stuff in my bathroom that I bought for Lindsey for that very reason."  
  
Sara chuckled. "It's ok, I sent Nick to the store."  
  
Catherine started laughing. "You didn't?"  
  
Sara nodded. "It was either that or he got to stay and explain to this little girl what was happening to her. I don't think Nick's experience with women would have covered this one."  
  
Catherine chuckled. "Yeah, that is one thing that you can't really substitute life experience for."  
  
They continued processing the scene, and hours after they arrived, they finally packed up the evidence they had collected and returned to the lab.  
  
Warrick and Nick had gone with Grissom to respond to a body dump in the desert. The more they looked at the scene though, the less likely they thought the body had been dumped and the less likely the victim had met with foul play, although they couldn't rule it out.  
  
Under the hulk of a broken down car, some hikers had found a body that had similar characteristics to a mummy. Dry leathery skin, shrunken against the frame of the bones. What they could determine was that the victim was an older male and had apparently died of extreme exposure. An autopsy would provide them with more definitive information.  
  
They spent the better part of six hours processing the area and removing the body. Once back at the lab, Nick and Warrick began the arduous task of trying to ID the body based on the clothes found on the body, the fingerprints Grissom raised during autopsy, and the wallet found near the body.  
  
Warrick was trying to decide when to start asking Nick about where he's slept that day. He didn't want to do it around Grissom and until they were in the layout room looking over the clothes from the body, he didn't have a chance. "Hey, Nick, did you forget we were supposed to go to the batting cages this morning?"  
  
Nick glanced up and looked at Warrick apologetically. "Sorry, man, it slipped my mind. I was really tired after chaperoning Lindsey's slumber party."  
  
"How did that go?" Warrick queried Nick.  
  
"Uh, it was interesting. Did you know that Sara had never been to a slumber party?" Nick looked amused.  
  
Warrick chuckled. "Actually, I can believe that." Warrick decided to start pressing for a little information. "So they tired you out then?"  
  
Nick nodded. "Yeah, I went home to crash, only this gal Sheila, the mom of one of Lindsey's friends."  
  
Warrick started to laugh and cut him off. "I know who Sheila is. What did she do?"  
  
Nick looked at Warrick and just shook his head. "This woman is unbelievable, and I don't mean in a good way either. She shows up on my doorstep with her daughter Kelsey as well as Lindsey and tells me that she needs to ask me something. Fortunately, she had at least enough sense to send them back to the car before she started throwing herself at me."  
  
Warrick looked amused. "Did she use a grenade launcher?"  
  
"More like a Saturn 5 rocket; you know the kind like they used in the space program." Nick started to laugh. "By the time I got her off my porch, I felt violated."  
  
Warrick shook his head. "You're lucky. Cath told me that she cornered one of the male teachers during a parent teacher conference into a very compromising situation."  
  
Nick just shook his head and turned his attention back to the evidence he was examining.  
  
"I stopped by this morning to bring your cell phone back since we were supposed to go to the batting cages, but you weren't home." Warrick remarked nonchalantly.  
  
Nick glanced up. "Oh, I went out for a while to throw hurricane Sheila off the scent in case she came back."  
  
"Ah." Warrick just left the conversation at that. He chuckled inwardly, knowing he had far more information than Nick realized.  
  
When Sara and Catherine returned to the lab, they stood in the locker room talking.  
  
"I see Lindsey found a way to get you and Nick to buy her the most expensive pizza this side of Vegas." Catherine just shook her head at the younger CSI.  
  
Sara tried to restrain the momentary panic that flashed in her stomach. "Uh, yeah, I guess I'm just a push over."  
  
Catherine laughed softly. "Well, I guarantee you, if you have your own kids someday, you won't be such a push over or you'll go broke."  
  
Sara made a mental note to talk to Nick about how long they planned to let Lindsey bribe them. "I'll keep that in mind." She smiled at Catherine and hoped that Lindsey wouldn't let the secret out before she and Nick went public.  
  
"Well, we've got evidence to look at. I'll meet you in the layout room." Catherine shut her locker door and headed out of the locker room.  
  
Sara finished stowing her things in her locker and shut the door. As she turned to leave, the door of the locker room open and Nick and Warrick walked in. "Hey, guys." Her smile was a bit bigger as she looked at Nick.  
  
In Warrick's typically casual manner he greeted her. "Sara." A smile threatened to form on Warrick's face as he noticed Nick and Sara beaming at each other. He started to think back to see if he could pinpoint when things had changed between his two colleagues. "So I hear you survived Lindsey's slumber party."  
  
Sara smiled. "It was an experience." She glanced at Nick, gesturing with her eyes that she wanted to talk to him.  
  
Nick looked amused. "I thought for a while you were going to have a panic attack, Sidle."  
  
Sara shot him a warning look. "Well, just be glad you didn't have to explain to Chelsea what was going on." Her words were loaded with double meaning.  
  
Warrick paused and looked at Sara with interest. "What happened with Chelsea?"  
  
Nick coughed and cleared his throat, hoping Sara would just leave things with the tamer version of the story.  
  
Sara smirked at him before turning back towards Warrick. "She got her period. I sent Nick to the store. I didn't think that his experience with women would have covered this one."  
  
Warrick started to chuckle. "Good call. Although, it would have been interesting watching Nick try and explain that to a little girl."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow. "I'll have you know that I have sisters and nieces, and I'm aware of the monthly female situation."  
  
Sara crossed her arms in front of her body as if to challenge him. "Monthly female situation. I don't think I've ever heard it put like that before." She smirked. She glanced over at Warrick. "I need to go catch up with Catherine, I'll see you guys later."  
  
Nick opened his locker and began stowing his gear.  
  
Warrick glanced at him as he hung up his lab coat. "You wanna hit the batting cages after shift?"  
  
Nick knew from Sara's expression that she wanted to talk to him, and he was hoping that they could do a little more than talk. He glanced at Warrick. "Uh, I think I might have plans."  
  
Warrick's investigative skills kicked in. "Might have plans? What? Do you have some hot date or something?"  
  
Nick tried to be casual. "No, I just have this friend that said they might want to get together and I just needed to check with them first."  
  
"So do I know this friend? Maybe he'd like to come with us." Warrick continued in a cool manner, knowing that Nick was getting nervous.  
  
"Uh, maybe." Nick mulled over how he was going to get out of this situation.  
  
"Or is this friend a woman?" Warrick looked amused.  
  
"Why are you so curious?" Nick raised an eyebrow at Warrick.  
  
"Because you're hiding something." Warrick replied confidently.  
  
"Why do you say that?" Nick regarded him suspiciously.  
  
"Because you're acting like it. I'll meet you in the layout room." Warrick chuckled as he shook his head. He shut his locker and headed out the door.  
  
Nick leaned against his locker and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and pulled his cell phone out of it's holster, punching in a number. "Hey, I need to talk to you. Yeah, I'll meet you there." He put the phone back in it's holster and headed out of the locker room. 


	12. Secrets Revealed

Sara stood at the far end of the parking lot leaning against her Denali when Nick jogged up. She looked at him with concern. "What's up?"  
  
He glanced around for a moment and then looked at her, his hands resting on his hips. "Warrick."  
  
"What do you mean 'Warrick'?" Sara tilted her head slightly and furrowed her brows.  
  
"I think he knows something." Nick continued.  
  
Momentary panic crossed Sara's face. "Why do you say that?"  
  
"Call it a gut feeling." Nick replied.  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Nick, has he said something specific?"  
  
Nick shook his head. "Not in so many words, but he's been subtly interrogating me all shift about where I was after I left Catherine's, why I wasn't home when he stopped by this morning to drop off my cell phone, about what I'm doing after shift."  
  
"So you think he thinks there's something going on between us?" Sara was trying to clarify if Nick was simply paranoid, or if there really was something to worry about.  
  
Nick rubbed his neck and looked at her with a slightly sheepish expression. "I don't know, but my gut tells me that he knows more than he's letting on."  
  
Sara crossed her arms in front of her body. "Well, we just don't let on then. I mean, he hasn't seen anything. No one but the girls were at Catherine's."  
  
Nick reached over and took Sara's hand. "Come over after shift." His voice was an urgent whisper.  
  
Sara smiled at him. "Ok." She leaned up and kissed him, cupping his face with her free hand. As she pulled away she whispered. "I'll see you later, baby."  
  
Nick didn't release her hand, instead he pulled her back toward him, caressing her cheek with his thumb, his fingers tangling in her hair as he leaned in and kissed her again. After a few moments, he finally released her and leaned back against the Denali as she headed back inside. He stood there for a while thinking about the whole situation and wondering if hiding their relationship from everyone was really a good idea.  
  
He heard footsteps approaching and glanced over to see Catherine round the corner of the vehicle toward her own. Her eyebrows went up in surprise. "Nick? You ok?"  
  
He nodded. "Just thinking."  
  
Her motherly concern kicked in. "Anything you want to talk about?"  
  
He shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his body. "No. But I probably should get back inside before Warrick wonders what happened to me."  
  
Catherine tilted her head. "Ok, if you change your mind, let me know."  
  
He smiled and nodded, pushing himself away from the vehicle and heading towards the building. "I will." Nick had a special bond with Catherine. He'd shared some pretty dark things with her and she'd stuck by him like a true friend in the midst of some tough circumstances. He headed back into the lab to the layout room he and Warrick were working in.  
  
Warrick glanced up. "Did you go by way of LA?"  
  
Nick shook his head. "Just needed some fresh air." Nick began examining the shirt the victim wore, not saying a word. He was lost in thought about Sara as he worked.  
  
Warrick studied his friend and concern flickered across his face. He didn't say anything, but he had a feeling that his comments earlier had struck a chord. He wondered to himself if things between Nick and Sara were more serious than he thought. He'd just have to wait and see.  
  
They worked the evidence till the end of shift, not really much further ahead than when they'd started. As the four of them gathered in the locker room after shift, Nick was quiet, almost pensive. Catherine's face reflected a bit of concern as she subtly watched him. Warrick didn't quite know what to make of his demeanor. Sara was concerned, but not overly so. She had a good idea what was bothering him and she knew they'd talk more when she got to his house.  
  
The four CSIs parted company in the parking lot as they climbed into their individual vehicles and drove away.  
  
Sara made one stop on her way over to Nick's. When she arrived at his house, she knocked on the door, holding a plastic bag in her other hand. A few moments later, Nick opened the door with a somewhat serious expression on his face. Sara looked at him quizzically as she leaned up and kissed him softly. Pulling away, she looked into his eyes. "You want to tell me what's bothering you?"  
  
He smiled softly and took her hand, leading her into the house and closing the door behind them. "I just missed you."  
  
She tilted her head, not quite buying his story. "As much as that should flatter me, I'm not sure I believe you."  
  
Nick let out a deep breath and looked into her eyes. "Sara, I can't do this."  
  
Confusion and shock was written on her face. "Are you breaking up with me?" There was an edge of panic in her voice.  
  
Nick looked surprised and quickly shook his head. "No." He pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear. "No, Sara. No, I'm not breaking up with you. I just don't want to keep this a secret any longer."  
  
Sara leaned head against his shoulder. "Ok, we don't have to keep it a secret anymore. But why the sudden change of heart?"  
  
Nick's voice had a smile in it. "Because I'm in love with you, Sara."  
  
Sara pulled back and looked at him with surprise. "You just said 'love'."  
  
"Yeah, I did." Nick studied her face as he watched her absorb this information. His heart beat wildly in his chest and his throat constricted as he waited for her response.  
  
"Wow." Sara wasn't sure how to respond. Her heart was beating rapidly and her throat felt dry. Somehow being that close to Nick at that moment was overwhelming. The only thing she could think to do was kiss him.  
  
Nick willingly responded to her kiss. His mouth devoured hers hungrily and as they broke apart several moments later, Nick realized that Sara held something in her hand. He reached down and lifted her hand which held the bag, looking at her curiously. "What's this?"  
  
Sara tried to catch her breath and glanced at her hand, which at the moment seemed to be detached from her body because of the drugged feeling she felt from Nick's kiss. "Uh, it's for you."  
  
Nick raised a curious eyebrow as he took the bag from her hand. "Can I see what it is?"  
  
A smile played at her lips and she nodded.  
  
Nick glanced inside the bag and a grin spread across his face. "How did you know that I love these?"  
  
She chuckled. "Because I know you, and you looked like you needed some cheering up." She leaned up and kissed him again.  
  
Nick dropped the bag and wrapped his arms around her waist murmuring against her lips. "As much as I love Snickers bars, I love this more."  
  
Sara giggled and pulled away from him, her hands resting on his chest, as she raised her eyebrows at him. "You didn't look under the bag of Snickers did you?"  
  
"No." He shook his head, looking at her with a curious expression on his face. "Should I?"  
  
She nodded, trying to restrain her smile.  
  
He looked amused. "But then I'd have to let go of you and I don't want to." Nick began kissing Sara's neck.  
  
She started to giggle again. "Nick, that tickles."  
  
Between kisses he teased her. "It tickles huh? Well, I'll give you tickling, Sidle." With that he continued his assault on her neck and began tickling her sides while keeping one arm firmly around her waist. He started walking them toward the couch where he knew he could press his advantage.  
  
As they tumbled onto the couch, the tickling slowly subsided and the kissing and touching intensified. As Sara sat in Nick's lap, his hand slid up the back of her shirt fumbling at her bra clasp. Sara fingered the buttons on Nick's shirt and began to unfasten them, her fingers trailing down his exposed flesh. Neither of them could barely pull away to catch a breath as their kisses became more desperate. Nick was soon divested of his shirt and he managed to unbutton Sara's shirt and push her back onto the couch, covering her body with his as their frenzied kissing continued. Sara had begun to unfasten Nick's pants when they heard a knock at the door.  
  
They tried to ignore it.  
  
Nick let out a groan and continued kissing Sara, reaching down and unzipping her pants. Sara whimpered into Nick's mouth as his hand began to tug at the waistband of her pants.  
  
The knock sounded louder.  
  
Nick pulled his lips from Sara's and swore.  
  
Sara was breathing heavily as Nick got up to answer the door. As she lay there she refastened the buttons on her shirt and zipped up her pants. Nick refastened his pants and grabbed his shirt, not bothering to button it up as he headed for the door. Sara sat up as Nick opened the door and then suddenly realized that her bra was still unfastened.  
  
"Warrick." Nick greeted with a hint of irritation in his voice.  
  
Warrick raised a curious eyebrow. "I thought we were going to go to the batting cages." Warrick noticed Sara sitting on the couch. "Hey, Sara."  
  
Sara gave Warrick a lackluster wave and a half smile. "Hey." She hoped she didn't look too mussed up and out of breath.  
  
Warrick noticed Sara's distracted demeanor and Nick's slight agitation. "Did I interrupt something?"  
  
Nick rested a hand on his hip and studied Warrick for a moment. He sure hoped Sara wouldn't be angry with him for the words about to come out of his mouth. "Actually, you did. Sara and I were in the middle of trying to have sex, so if you don't mind, we'd kind of like to be alone."  
  
The look on Warrick's face was priceless. He never expected Nick to admit there was something going on between him and Sara, and definitely not like he had just done. "Excuse me?"  
  
Shock was written all over Sara's face, but gradually it diminished and she started smiling.  
  
Nick repeated his statement to Warrick. "I said, Sara and I were in the middle of trying to have sex and we'd like to be alone. We'll see you at work tonight, man." Nick closed the door on Warrick.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Warrick stood staring at Nick's door for a few moments. His jaw was agape. He knew from what he'd witnessed at Sara's apartment as he'd watched from his vehicle, that there was something going on between the two of them, he just didn't expect that Nick would be that blunt. He began to chuckle as he made his way back to his Denali. As he reached for his cell phone her reasoned that if they weren't going to keep their relationship a secret, neither was he.  
  
Catherine picked up on the third ring. "Willows."  
  
"Cath. Warrick." He greeted.  
  
"Hey." Catherine had the hint of smile in her voice. "Lindsey and I were going to make pancakes; you can come over if you want. We tried to get Grissom to come over, but he seems set on working a double."  
  
"That's a big surprise." Warrick chuckled.  
  
"So are you calling just to get an invitation to breakfast, or did you have something on your mind?" Catherine's was clearly teasing Warrick.  
  
"You are never going to believe what I just walked into." Warrick began.  
  
Catherine responded dryly. "Warrick, this is Vegas, I'll believe anything."  
  
Warrick chuckled again. "I stopped by Nick's to see if he wanted to go to the batting cages, but he was a little busy."  
  
"Nicky's got a girl?" Catherine's curiosity was piqued.  
  
Warrick started laughing. "Not just any girl, Cath. Sara."  
  
"Our Sara?" There was a hint of disbelief in Catherine's voice. Sara had told her that she'd moved on from her fixation on Grissom, but she didn't think she'd moved on quite that far.  
  
"Yeah, our Sara." Warrick confirmed.  
  
"So, how do you know that they're together? I mean they're friends, they both helped with Lindsey's slumber party." Catherine was trying to sort out this information in her mind.  
  
"I asked Nick if I was interrupting something and he said that as matter of fact I was. He told me that he and Sara were in the middle of trying to have sex and they'd like to be alone." Warrick waited for her response.  
  
Catherine was silent for a few minutes. "You have got to be kidding."  
  
"Nope." Warrick sounded amused at Catherine's disbelief.  
  
"Maybe he was kidding." Catherine continued.  
  
Warrick started to laugh. "Do you really think that Sara would have just sat there and said nothing if he was just kidding?"  
  
"Good point." Catherine voice indicated that the information was starting to sink in. "I can't believe that Nick and Sara are dating and they didn't tell us."  
  
Warrick could hear a muffled voice on Catherine's end of the line, then a low chuckle.  
  
"Warrick, apparently, they didn't keep it from everyone." Catherine said with a hint of amusement in her voice.  
  
"Really?" Warrick was curious.  
  
"Lindsey just told me that she and the girls caught them making out at her party." Catherine explained.  
  
Warrick started laughing. "Damn."  
  
"That explains the pizza and the extra movie." Catherine chuckled. "What? Ice cream too? Lindsey Willows, you are a little con artist."  
  
"Hey, Cath, I'm almost there, I'm going to hang up." Warrick ended the call as he turned onto Catherine's street.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After Nick had shut the door in Warrick's face, he glanced over at Sara, flashing her a lopsided grin. "I hope that was ok, I'm just tired of getting interrupted."  
  
Sara nodded and started laughing. "Did you see the look on his face?"  
  
Nick grinned. "Uh, huh." He stepped toward Sara with a seductive look on his face.  
  
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You need to look in the bottom of that bag." She pointed at the plastic bag which was still on the floor where Nick had dropped it.  
  
Nick pouted. "Sara."  
  
Sara giggled and stood up; putting her palms up to motion him to stop. "Hey, you can't touch me again until you do, and I'll make you a deal. I'll go in the other room and when you figure out what to do with what's in the bag, you can come in there and we'll finish what we started."  
  
Nick looked somewhat perplexed as he glanced at the bag on the floor. "Ok."  
  
Sara grinned at him and disappeared into his bedroom, shutting the door behind her.  
  
Nick picked up the bag and pulled out the bag of fun-sized Snickers bars. He raised a curious eyebrow as he peered at what lay in the bottom of the bag. As he pulled the object out, he started to laugh. He glanced down the hallway and yelled. "You're lucky I'm in love with you, Sidle."  
  
A few moments later, Nick opened the door to his bedroom. Sara lay there in the buff leaning against the headboard hugging a strategically placed pillow, waiting for him to come in. She grinned as she noticed what he had on. "Nice."  
  
Nick looked slightly embarrassed. "Don't Mess With Texas?"  
  
She giggled. "I thought they were so you."  
  
He shut the door behind him and drank in the sight of her. "I like your outfit better."  
  
"I didn't say you had to keep them on, just that you had to figure out what to do with them." Sara smirked at him.  
  
In one swift movement, Nick pulled his 'Don't Mess With Texas' boxers down to his ankles and stepped out of them. "Better?"  
  
Sara nodded with a huge grin on her face. As he stood there she raised her eyebrow. "Are you going to just stand there or are you going to come over here?"  
  
Nick grinned at her and crawled cat-like onto the bed until he sat next to her at the head of the bed. He glanced over at her and chuckled. "Why do I feel so jealous of that pillow right now?"  
  
Sara looked him over from head to toe, finally looking him in the eye mischievously. "I don't know why you should be jealous; you're much sexier than this pillow."  
  
He grinned at her and leaned over to kiss her, his hand cupping the side of her face. He pulled away for a moment and grinned, winking at her. "And I think you'd be much sexier without that pillow." With that he grabbed the pillow and tossed it to the side, pulling her against him as he lay back on the bed and rolled them over so that he rested on top of Sara. With their bare flesh pressed together, Nick whispered huskily. "You're sexy as hell, Sara, and I want you so badly."  
  
Sara reached up and trailed her fingers along his brow and a smile played at her lips. "I love you, Nick." Her voice was equally husky.  
  
He grinned as his heart flipped in his chest. "I love you, Sara." He leaned down and kissed her long and deep as they began to relieve all of the pent up sexual tension that had been building long before they'd gotten stuck on the ridge in the storm. 


	13. Late

Sara lay on her stomach hugging a pillow. Her eyes were closed and she had a drowsy smile on her face as Nick's fingers trailed up and down her back. "You do realize that the entire lab is going to know we're sleeping together by the time we get to work."  
  
Nick's voice was husky as he lay on his stomach next to her, unable to stop touching her. "Technically we haven't done a hell of a lot of sleeping, Sara, and I'm sure that the entire lab is a bit of an exaggeration."  
  
Sara opened her eyes and her smiled widened as she noticed he was watching her intently. "You're making me nervous watching me like that, and for the record, you told Warrick we were in the middle of trying to have sex. What did you think he was going to do with that little tidbit of information? Keep it to himself? I don't think so. At the very least, I'm sure Catherine knows."  
  
Nick leaned over and kissed her softly, his hand coming to rest on her hip. As he pulled away he smiled at her. "Is that a bad thing? I want the whole world to know I'm in love with you."  
  
Sara giggled. "No it's not a bad thing, but it might come as a little bit of a shock to a few people."  
  
Nick grinned. "Greg's going to be jealous." He slid his hand down to cup her butt, giving it a firm squeeze as he began planting kisses on her neck.  
  
"I'm not in love with Greg, I'm in love with you." Sara turned her body to face him and giggled as he pulled her firmly against him, continuing to plant kisses on her neck. "Nick you are a horny little bastard." She could tell that he was already becoming aroused.  
  
He chuckled against her neck and rolled her onto her back so he could lay on top of her. "Yes, I am."  
  
"Mmmn, Nicky baby, we're going to be late for work." Sara didn't protest too loudly, truth be told, she wanted Nick as much as he wanted her.  
  
Nick was thoroughly enjoying the sensation of Sara's bare flesh beneath him. "You make me so hot, Sara." His voice was a husky whisper.  
  
Sara leaned up and captured his lips in a searing kiss, pushing against him to roll them over. In the process, she hadn't realized how close they were to the edge of the bed and they went tumbling over the side. Sara landed on Nick and he let out a grunt.  
  
"Damn, Sara, that hurt like hell. I think I bruised my ass." Nick let go of her and rubbed his tush.  
  
"I think I bruised my elbow." Sara mumbled trying to push herself off of Nick, hitting him in the groin in the process.  
  
"Sara!" Nick winced and the pitch in his voice was considerably higher than normal.  
  
"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." Sara rolled off of Nick and lay back on the carpet of his bedroom floor, glancing over at him.  
  
Nick lay there for a few minutes looking very much in pain as he rolled onto his side muttering curse words.  
  
As she thought about the situation, she started to giggle.  
  
Nick looked at her slightly annoyed, his face showing that the pain was starting to subside. "What's so funny?"  
  
"We are." She continued to giggle. She sat up and glanced over at him. "I'm really sorry I hurt you, baby, but we need to get up anyway, we're already going to be pushing our luck to get to work on time."  
  
Nick reached out for her arm and pulled her toward him so she fell back against the carpet, then propped himself up so he hovered over her. "I'm sure Warrick could explain where we are. I mean, who could blame me for being late because I wanted to make love to the sexiest woman on the planet." He leaned down and kissed her.  
  
After a few moments, Sara pushed him away and raised an amused eyebrow at him. "Something tells me that wouldn't go over very well, besides I thought you were injured." She reached up and put her fingers against his lips. "We can continue this later, but right now we need to get off the floor and get ready for work."  
  
"Promise?" Nick looked eager as he grinned at her.  
  
"Nick. Work." She stood up pulling a sheet with her and went off in search of her clothes.  
  
Nick simply pulled himself off the floor and walked over to the 'Don't Mess With Texas' boxers he'd discarded on the floor and pulled them on. He found Sara who had already finished dressing in the bathroom.  
  
She glanced up at him and a smirk crossed her face.  
  
He raised an eyebrow at her suggestively. "I just wanted you to know I'd be wearing these for you."  
  
"I'll remember that." She started to giggle as he walked away to find a pair of jeans and a clean shirt.  
  
When they finally arrived at work, they were fifteen minutes late. Grissom did not seem to be in the best of moods. He raised a single eyebrow at them as they tried to enter the meeting room nonchalantly, cups of coffee in hand.  
  
Warrick cast an amused glance Nick's direction and Nick just grinned in return. A faint hue of pink began to color Sara's cheeks.  
  
Grissom glowered over the group of CSIs as he handed out assignments. He assigned Sara and Warrick a home invasion of a prominent Las Vegas attorney and put himself with Catherine and Nick on a homicide. Before they he dismissed the briefing, he glanced at Nick and Sara. "I need to speak with the two of you."  
  
Warrick and Catherine exchanged a curious glance. Neither of them had shared what they'd learned about Nick and Sara's relationship with Grissom.  
  
Grissom looked from Sara to Nick and back again. "I'm sure you have an explanation as to why you're late?"  
  
Sara glanced at Nick, she wasn't about to tell Grissom that the reason they were late was because Nick was a little too horny.  
  
Nick cleared his throat. "I gave Sara a lift to work, and I was late."  
  
"No, it was my fault, Nick. I'm the one who wanted to stop for coffee." Sara didn't want Grissom to place all of the blame on Nick.  
  
"If I had paid attention to the clock, Sara, we wouldn't have been late, even if we'd stopped for coffee." Nick insisted.  
  
"Well, I knew what time it was, we didn't have to stop for coffee." Sara replied.  
  
Nick raised an amused eyebrow. "Well, if we didn't someone would have been too tired to get through shift."  
  
Sara was equally amused. "I'm not the only one, baby." Panic washed over at her the moment she spoke that last word. She let out an audible groan and covered her face with one of her hands.  
  
Grissom took in this information and raised his eyebrow at Nick. "Is there something you want to tell me?"  
  
Nick cleared his throat and looked at Grissom with a sheepish expression. "Gris, uh, Sara and I are dating."  
  
A faint almost imperceptible smile flickered for a moment across Grissom's face. "In the future, I suggest you use an alarm clock so that your extracurricular activities don't interfere with your ability to get to work on time."  
  
Sara just nodded, not meeting Grissom's gaze and turned to leave and find Warrick.  
  
Nick gestured toward the door. "I just need to get something from my locker." He looked nervous.  
  
Grissom glanced at him over the rim of his glasses. "Nick, I'll be in the parking lot."  
  
**********  
  
Sara found Warrick standing next to his Denali, he could tell that she was embarrassed about something. "What did Grissom say to you and Nick?"  
  
She glanced at him as she climbed into the vehicle. "He wanted to know why we were late."  
  
Warrick raised an eyebrow. "And what did you tell him?"  
  
Sara felt her cheeks getting a little warm. "I slipped and called Nick baby."  
  
Warrick started to chuckle. "Tell me you didn't."  
  
She nodded, smirking at Warrick. "I did."  
  
"Nice way to announce to your boss that you and one of your coworkers are sleeping together." Warrick looked amused.  
  
Sara just shook her head and glanced out the window. "It was bad enough that you showed up at Nick's when you did."  
  
Warrick studied her for a moment. "So what exactly is going on between you and Nick anyway?"  
  
She turned toward Warrick and a faint blush crept into her cheeks. "I'm in love with him."  
  
Surprise flashed across Warrick's face. "You're in love with Nick."  
  
She nodded. "He's in love with me too." Sara looked out the window and a grin spread across her face.  
  
"Just how long have the two of you been together?" Warrick was curious how something like this could have slipped under his radar.  
  
Sara chuckled softly. "Since we got stuck in that storm together."  
  
***********  
  
Catherine was dying to quiz Nick about Sara, but wasn't about to as long as Grissom was with them at the crime scene. She could tell that whatever conversation had gone on after she and Warrick left the briefing room had left Nick a little nervous.  
  
Grissom finally left with the coroner to accompany the body back to the morgue.  
  
Catherine looked over at Nick and grinned. "So, Nick, you're looking a little tired tonight. Didn't you get enough sleep?"  
  
Nick glanced up at her and restrained his smile, he knew that Catherine had a pretty good idea why both he and Sara were late and why they both looked so tired. "Something like that." He continued processing the scene.  
  
Catherine tried a different approach. "So what did Grissom want with you and Sara?" She sounded a little too eager.  
  
Nick chuckled. "He wanted to know why we were late."  
  
"What did you tell him?" Catherine pressed him, knowing that eventually he'd tell her what she wanted to know.  
  
Nick looked at her with amusement. "Catherine, I'm pretty sure that Warrick already told you that he stopped by after shift this morning. I think you can figure out the rest."  
  
Catherine started to chuckle. "Ok, you're calling my bluff. Just how long has this fling with Sara been going on?"  
  
Nick laughed. "We're not having a fling, Catherine, I happen to be in love with Sara."  
  
Shock was written all over Catherine's face. "You're in love with Sara?"  
  
Nick nodded and a grin spread across his face. "Yes, I'm in love with Sara, and she's in love with me."  
  
"How long have you been dating?" Catherine's interest was piqued.  
  
Nick glanced at her. "Since we got stuck on that ridge in that storm."  
  
Catherine started to laugh. "Nice, Nicky. Sex in the desert."  
  
Nick shook his head. "It's not like that, Cath. We didn't have sex while we were stranded out there."  
  
Catherine raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
He raised a palm. "And before you ask, we didn't have sex at your house either."  
  
Catherine chuckled. "Well I do know that Lindsey and her friends caught the two of you making out."  
  
A little color began to infuse Nick's cheeks. "Ok, we are guilty of that."  
  
"Explains how she was able to talk you into buying her pizza." Catherine grinned.  
  
Nick glanced at his watch. "Uh, in fact we didn't have sex until about twelve hours ago." He looked entirely pleased as he glanced up to gauge Catherine's reaction.  
  
She started laughing. "No wonder you two were late. Hell, if I were you, I would have called in sick."  
  
Nick chuckled as his grin widened. "Don't think it didn't cross my mind. I'm just counting the hours." 


	14. Greg

Shift was over and Nick found Sara in the locker room muttering under her breath as she shoved things into her locker.  
  
He chuckled. "That bad, huh, babe?"  
  
She glanced over at him and smiled. "Turns out after processing this guy's house, that he'd put a few things in storage that he'd conveniently forgotten about."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow. "Insurance fraud?"  
  
"Sure as hell looks like it." She closed her locker and leaned back against it. "So, I assume Catherine gave you the third degree."  
  
He chuckled. "Of course, and I assume Warrick did the same."  
  
She nodded and smiled. "I just didn't count on slipping like that to Grissom. What a way to start your day. 'Oh, by the way, Gris, Nick and I are getting it on after hours'."  
  
"He was going to find out eventually. Besides, I like getting it on with you." Nick grinned suggestively.  
  
Sara raised an amused eyebrow. "I know, you made that abundantly clear, several times I might add."  
  
Nick stepped toward her, placing his hands on her hips, and leaned down and started to kiss her neck. In between kisses, he murmured. "Mmmn. I think I'd like to try that several more times."  
  
Sara giggled and slid her arms around his neck. "Baby, we might want to take this somewhere else."  
  
Nick slid his hands down and cupped her butt, bringing his lips up to meet hers. He pulled away smiling. "Your place or mine?"  
  
Sara looked into his eyes grinning. "I think we should go to mine, I didn't think ahead about needing a change of clothes, and I think these might be able to stand up by themselves. You have to promise me something."  
  
Nick raised both of his eyebrows. "Ok, what?"  
  
She tilted her head. "We have to get some sleep. I can't live on just you and coffee."  
  
Nick feigned a hurt expression. "Oh, and how come? I could live on just you."  
  
Sara giggled. "As flattering as that is, Nicky, I need some sleep."  
  
Nick grinned. "Ok, we'll get some sleep." He looked at her quizzically. "Can we do this first though?" He leaned down and kissed her again.  
  
Sara giggled against his lips. As she broke the kiss, she just shook her head in amusement. "Nick, have I mentioned how horny you are?"  
  
Nick waggled his eyebrows at her. "Yeah, you've mentioned that a time or two, but I love you and it does things to me."  
  
Sara smiled. "I love you too, baby." She leaned up and kissed him.  
  
The sound of a set of keys hitting the floor, caused them to break the kiss. They turned toward the sound where a shocked Greg stood.  
  
"Hey, Greg." Nick greeted as he released Sara from his embrace.  
  
Greg nodded at Nick, but his eyes were riveted on Sara.  
  
Sara smiled. "Greg. How's it going?"  
  
Greg just nodded again.  
  
Sara glanced at Nick who had a bemused grin on his face. "Do you want to tell him, or do you want me to tell him?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "Sara, I'm pretty sure the kiss was a dead giveaway, but in case that didn't do it, I'm sure my hand on your ass got his attention."  
  
"Actually, I've been standing here for a while." Greg whispered softly.  
  
Sara looked over at Greg again who now had a look of disappointment on his face. "Greg, are you ok?"  
  
"Why didn't you guys tell me?" He looked genuinely hurt.  
  
Sara's expression softened. "Hey, we only decided to go public with this after last shift."  
  
Greg glanced at Nick.  
  
"It's true, man. No one knew anything until yesterday morning." Nick hoped that Greg wasn't too upset. He knew how the lab tech had harbored a crush on Sara for a long time.  
  
Greg tried to crack a smile and looked at Sara. "Well, if things don't work out with Nick, I'm your man."  
  
Sara chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."  
  
Nick feigned a hurt expression. "Hey."  
  
Sara grinned at Nick and placed a hand on his chest. "You know I love you."  
  
Nick leaned toward her grinning. "I know, I love you too." He placed a soft sweet kiss on her lips.  
  
Greg cleared his throat.  
  
The pair pulled away smiling. Sara looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, Greg." She turned her attention back to Nick. "Oh, and food would be good too."  
  
Nick grinned. "Ok. I'll pick something up."  
  
Sara chuckled. "Oh, wait, I didn't drive."  
  
"I know." Nick laughed softly.  
  
"I'll see you guys later." Greg still had disappointment on his face as he left the locker room.  
  
Nick and Sara absentmindedly waved at his retreating form as they gathered their things and headed toward the parking lot together.  
  
Greg found the rest of the nightshift crew assembled in the break room.  
  
"Did you find Nick and Sara, Greg?" Grissom queried him.  
  
Greg nodded mutely.  
  
Warrick glanced at Greg with a little concern. "You ok, Greg?"  
  
Greg nodded and finally looked up. "They're dating."  
  
Catherine and Warrick exchanged a glance. Everyone knew that Greg had a thing for Sara.  
  
Grissom interjected. "Are they coming with us to breakfast?"  
  
Greg shook his head.  
  
"Did you invite them?" Grissom wanted to know.  
  
Greg shook his head again.  
  
Catherine looked somewhat amused. "Greg, then how do you know they aren't coming?"  
  
He looked at Catherine directly in the eye, still looking a bit shell shocked. "From what I overheard, I think they were going to Sara's to have sex."  
  
"Let's go to the diner then." Catherine turned and headed toward the door. Warrick and Grissom followed.  
  
Greg stood there stunned for a moment then followed them out muttering. "Just how long have you guys known? Did everyone else in the lab know? Why am I always the last one to find out about things like this? Damn, Nick's a lucky man." 


End file.
